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THE  LIBRARIES 


MY   LIFE   IN   MANY  STATES 
AND     IN     FOREIGN     LANDS 


George  Francis  Train. 
From  a  recent  photograph. 


My  Life  in  Many  States 
and  in  Foreign  Lands 

DICTATED 
IN     Mr     S  E  l^ENTr-FOURTH     TEAR 


BY 
GEORGE   FRANCIS   TRAIN 


ILLUSTRA  TED 


I        I   I  I .    )  I 


NEW  YORK 

D.  APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 

1902 


Copyright,  1002 
By  D.    APPLETON   AND    COMPANY 


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TO    THE    CHILDREN" 

AND   TO   THE   CHILDREN'S    CHILDrwEN 
IN  THIS  AND  IN  ALL  LANDS 

WHO     LOVE    AND     BELIEVE    IN    ME 

BECAUSE   THEY    KNOW 
I     LOVE     AND     BELIEVE     IN     THEM 


332125 


PREFACE 


I  HAVE  been  silent  for  thirty  years.  During 
that  long  period  I  have  taken  little  part  in  the 
public  life  of  the  world,  have  written  nothing  be- 
yond occasional  letters  and  newspaper  articles,  and 
have  conversed  with  few  persons,  except  children 
in  parks  and  streets.  I  have  found  children  always 
sympathetic  and  appreciative.  For  this  reason  I 
have  readily  entered  into  their  play  and  their  more 
serious  moods ;  and  for  this  reason,  also,  have  dedi- 
cated this  book  to  them  and  to  their  children. 

For  many  years  I  have  been  a  silent  recluse, 
remote  from  the  world  in  my  little  corner  in  the 
Mills  Hotel,  thinking  and  waiting  patiently.  That 
I  break  this  silence  now,  after  so  many  years,  is 
due  to  the  suggestion  of  a  friend  who  has  told  me 
that  the  world  of  to-day,  as  well  as  the  world  of  to- 
morrow, will  be  interested  in  reading  my  story.  I 
am  assured  that  many  of  the  things  I  have  accom- 
plished will  endure  as  a  memorial  of  me,  and  that 
I  ought  to  give  some  account  of  them  and  of 
myself. 

vu 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

And  so  I  have  tried  to  compress  a  story  of  my 
life  into  this  book.  With  modesty,  I  may  say  that 
the  whole  story  could  not  be  told  in  a  single 
volume.  I  have  tried  not  to  be  prolix,  keeping  in 
mind  while  preparing  this  record  of  events,  "  all  of 
which  I  saw,  and  part  of  which  I  was,"  that  there 
is  a  limit  to  the  patience  of  readers. 

I  beg  my  readers  to  remember  that  this  book 
was  spoken,  not  written,  by  me.  It  is  my  own 
life-story  that  I  have  related.  It  may  not,  in 
every  part,  agree  with  the  recollections  of  oth- 
ers; but  I  am  sure  that  it  is  as  accurate  in  state- 
ment as  it  is  blameless  in  purpose.  If  I  should 
fail  at  any  point,  this  will  be  due  to  some  waver- 
ing of  memory,  and  not  to  intention.  Thanks  to 
my  early  Methodist  training,  I  have  never  know- 
ingly told  a  lie ;  and  I  shall  not  begin  at  this  time 
of  life. 

While  I  may  undertake  other  volumes  that  will 
present  another  side  of  me — my  views  and  opinions 
of  men  and  things — that  which  stands  here  re- 
corded is  the  story  of  my  life.  It  has  been  dictated 
in  the  mornings  of  July  and  August  of  the  past 
summer,  one  or  two  hours  being  given  to  it  during 
two  or  three  days  of  each  week.  Altogether,  the 
time  consumed  in  the  dictation  makes  a  total  of 
thirty-five  hours.  Before  I  began  the  dictation,  I 
wrote  out  hastily  a  brief  sketch,  or  mere  epitome, 
of  my  history,  so  that  I  might  have  before  my  mind 
a  guide  that  would  prevent  me  from  wandering  too 

viii 


PKEFACE 


far  afield  or  that  might  save  me  from  tediousness. 
I  give  it  here,  as  a  foretaste  of  the  book.  I  have 
called  it  "  My  Autobiography  boiled  down — 400 
Pages  in  200  Words." 

"  Born  3-24-'29.  Orphaned  New  Orleans,  '33. 
(Father,  mother,  and  three  sisters — yellow  fever.) 
Came  North  alone,  four  years  old,  to  grandmother, 
Waltham,  Mass.  Supported  self  since  babyhood. 
Farmer  till  14.  Grocer-boy,  Cambridgeport,  two 
years.  Shipping-clerk,  16.  Manager,  18.  Partner, 
Train  &  Co.,  20  (income,  $10,000).  Boston,  22 
($15,000). 

"Established  G.  F.  T.  &  Co.,  Melbourne, 
'Australia,  '53.  Agent,  Barings,  Duncan  &  Sher- 
man, WTiite  Star  Line  (income,  $95,000).  Started 
40  clippers  to  California,  '49.  Flying  Cloud,  Sov- 
ereign of  the  Seas,  Staffordshire.  Built  A.  &  G. 
W.  R.  P.,  connecting  Erie  with  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi, 400  miles. 

"  Pioneered  first  street-railway,  Europe,  Amer- 
ica, Australia.  (England ;  Birkenhead,  Darlington, 
Staffordshire,  London,  '60.)  Built  first  Pacific 
Railway  (U.  P.),  '62-'69,  through  first  Trust, 
Credit  Mobilier.  Owned  five  thousand  lots,  Omaha, 
worth  $30,000,000.  (Been  in  fifteen  jails  without 
a  crime.) 

"  Train  Villa,  built  at  Newport,  '68.  Daugh- 
ter's house,  156  Madison  Avenue,  '60.  Organized 
French  Commune,  Marseilles,  Ligue  du  Midi,  Octo- 
ber, '70,  while  on  return  trip  around  the  world  in 

ix 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

eighty  days.  Jules  Verne,  two  years  later,  wrote 
fiction  of  my  fact. 

"  Made  independent  race  for  Presidency  against 
Grant  and  Greeley,  71-72.  Cornered  lawyers, 
doctors,  clericals,  by  quoting  three  columns  of 
Bible  to  release  WoodhuU-Claflin  from  jail,  72. 
Now  lunatic  by  law,  through  six  courts. 

"  Now  living  in  Mills  Palace,  $3  against  $2,000 
a  week,  at  Train  Villa.  (Daughter  always  has 
room  for  me  in  country.)  Played  Carnegie  forty 
years  ahead.  Three  generations  living  off  Credit 
Mobilier.  Author  dozen  books  out  of  print  (vide 
Who's  Who,  Allibone,  Appletons'  Cyclopaedia). 

"  Four  times  around  the  world.  First,  two 
years.  Second,  eighty  days,  70.  Third,  sixty- 
seven  and  a  half  days,  '90.  Fourth,  sixty  days, 
shortest  record,  '92.  Through  psychic  telepathy, 
am  doubling  age.    Seventy-four  years  young." 

It  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to  some  readers 
that  I  should  have  accomplished  so  much  at  the 
early  age  when  so  many  of  my  most  important  en- 
terprises were  accomplished.  It  should  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  I  began  young.  I  was  a 
mature  man  at  an  age  when  most  boys  are  still 
tied  to  their  mothers'  apron  strings.  I  had  to 
begin  to  take  care  of  myself  in  very  tender  years. 
I  suppose  my  experiences  in  New  Orleans,  on 
the  old  farm  in  Massachusetts,  in  the  grocery 
store  in  Boston,  and  in  the  shipping  house  of 
Enoch  Train  and  Company,  matured  and  hardened 


PREFACE 


me  before  my  time.  I  was  never  much  of  a  boy.  I 
seem  to  have  missed  that  portion  of  my  youth.  I 
was  obliged  to  look  out  for  myself  very  early,  and 
was  soon  fighting  hard  in  the  fierce  battle  of  com- 
petition, where  the  weak  are  so  often  lost. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  present  here  some  im- 
portant evidence  of  the  confidence  that  was  re- 
posed in  me  by  experienced  men,  when,  as  a  mere 
youth,  I  was  undertaking  vast  enterprises  that 
might  have  made  older  men  hesitate.  When  I  was 
about  to  leave  Boston  in  '53  for  business  in  Aus- 
tralia, and  organized  the  house  of  Caldwell,  Train 
and  Company,  I  was  authorized  by  the  following 
well-established  houses  of  this  and  other  countries 
to  use  them  as  references,  and  did  so  on  our  firm 
circulars:  John  M.  Forbes,  John  E.  Thayer  and 
Brother,  George  B.  Upton,  Enoch  Train  and  Com- 
pany, Sampson  and  Tappan,  and  Josiah  Bradlee 
and  Company,  of  Boston;  Cary  and  Company, 
Goodhue  and  Company,  Josiah  Macy  and  Sons, 
Grinnell,  Minturn  and  Company,  and  Charles 
H.  Marshall  and  Company,  of  New  York;  H. 
and  A.  Cope  and  Company,  of  Philadelphia; 
Birckhead  and  Pearce,  of  Baltimore;  J.  P.  Whit- 
ney and  Company,  of  New  Orleans;  Flint,  Pea- 
body  and  Company,  and  Macondray  and  Com- 
pany, of  San  Francisco;  George  A.  Hopley  and 
Company,  of  Charleston;  Archibald  Gracie,  of 
Mobile;  and  the  following  foreign  houses:  Bow- 
man, Grinnell  and  Company,  and  Charles  Hum- 

xi 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

berston,  of  Liverpool;  Eussell  and  Company  and 
Augustine  Heard  and  Company,  of  Canton. 

These  were  among  the  best  known  commercial 
houses  in  the  world  at  that  time.  Any  business 
man,  familiar  with  the  commercial  history  of  the 
modern  world,  should  consider  this  list  fair  enough 
evidence  of  the  confidence  I  enjoyed  among  men 
of  affairs.  Let  me  reproduce  here — partly  as  evi- 
dence along  the  same  line,  and  partly  because  of 
the  value  I  attach  to  it  on  personal  and  friendly 
grounds — the  following  letter  from  Mr.  D.  O. 
Mills: 

"New  York,  September  SO,  1901. 

"  Hon.  George  Francis  Train, 

"  Mills  Hotel,  BleecJcer  St.,  New  YorTc. 

"  My  Dear  Citizen  : 

"  The  many  appreciative  notices  that  have  come 
to  my  attention  of  your  distinguished  talents  of 
early  years  lead  me  also  to  send  you  a  line  of  ap- 
preciation, particularly  as  touching  the  part  played 
by  you  in  some  of  the  great  commercial  enter- 
prises that  have  so  signally  marked  the  nineteenth 
century,  notably  in  the  Merchant  Marine,  and  in 
the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  in  the 
conception  and  construction  of  which  you  bore  so 
distinguished  a  part. 

"  The  present  generation,  with  its  conveniences 
of  travel  and  communication,  can  not  realize  what 
were  the  difficulties  and  experiences  of  the  mer- 
chant and  traveler  of  those  early  days  when  you 

xii 


PREFACE 


were  engaged  in  the  China  trade,  and  your  Clipper 
Ships  were  often  seen  in  the  port  of  San 
Francisco. 

"  The  long  voyage  around  the  Horn,  the  danger 
experienced  from  sudden  attack  by  Indians  while 
traversing  the  wild  and  uninhabited  country  lying 
between  Omaha  and  the  Pacific  Coast,  are  experi- 
ences which  even  an  old  voyager  like  myself 
questions  as  he  speeds  across  the  continent,  priv- 
ileged to  enjoy  the  comforts  of  a  Pullman  car,  and 
a  railroad  service  that  has  shortened  the  journey 
from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  from  months  to 
a  few  days.  In  recalling  the  many  years  of  our 
pleasant  acquaintance  by  sea  and  land,  not  the 
least  is  the  remembrance  of  your  kind  and  genial 
spirit,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  that  you  have  lost  none 
of  your  sincere  wish  to  do  good. 

"  With  kind  regards. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  D.  0.  Mills." 

Mr.  Mills  has  known  me  in  many  walks  of  life. 
We  have  at  times  walked  side  by  side.  At  others, 
oceans  have  roared  between  us.  He  is  my  friend, 
and  I  was  glad  to  receive  this  kindly  word  from 
him,  after  many  long  years  of  acquaintance. 

Although  I  am  a  hermit  now,  I  was  not  always 
so.  All  who  read  this  book  must  see  that.  I  spent 
many  happy  years  in  society — and  never  an  un- 
happy year  anywhere,  whether  in  jail  or  under 

•  •  • 

xui 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

social  persecution;  and  I  have  lived  many  years 
with  my  family  in  my  own  country  and  in  foreign 
lands.  My  wife,  of  whom  I  have  spoken  of  in  the 
following  pages,  passed  into  shadow-land  in  '77. 
I  have  children  who  are  scattered  widely  now. 
My  first  child,  Lily,  was  born  in  Boston,  in  '52, 
and  died  when  five  months  old,  in  Boston.  My 
second  daughter,  Susan  Minerva,  was  born  in  '55, 
and  married  Philip  Dunbar  Guelager,  who  for 
thirty-six  years  was  the  head  of  the  gold  and  silver 
department  of  the  Subtreasury  in  this  city.  She 
now  lives  at  "  Minerva  Lodge,"  Stamford,  Con- 
necticut, with  my  seven-year-old  grandson.  My 
first  son,  George  Francis  Train,  Jr.,  was  born 
in  '5C,  and  is  now  in  business  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. Elsey  McPIenry  Train,  my  last  child,  now 
lives  in  Chicago.  He  was  born  in  '57.  I  was  able 
to  see  these  children  well  educated,  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  to  give  them  some  chance  to  see  the 
great  world  I  had  known. 

A  last  word  as  to  myself.  Eeaders  of  this  book 
may  think  I  have  sometimes  taken  myself  too  seri- 
ously. I  can  scarcely  agree  with  them.  I  try  not 
to  be  too  serious  about  anything — not  even  about 
myself.  When  I  was  making  a  hopeless  fight  for 
the  Presidency  in  '72,  I  made  the  following  state- 
ment in  one  of  my  speeches : 

"  Many  persons  attribute  to  me  simply  an  im- 
pulsiveness, and  an  impressibility,  as  if  I  were 
some  erratic  comet,  rushing  madly  through  space, 

xiv 


PREFACE 


emitting  coruscations  of  fancifully  colored  sparks, 
without  system,  rule,  or  definite  object.  This 
is  a  popular  error.  I  claim  to  be  a  close  ana- 
lytical observer  of  passing  events,  applying  the 
crucible  of  Truth  to  every  new  matter  or  subject 
presented  to  my  mind  or  my  senses." 

I  think  that  estimate  may  be  used  to-day  in  this 
place.  It  does  not  so  much  matter,  however,  what 
I  may  have  thought  of  myself  or  what  I  now  think 
of  myself.  What  does  matter  is  what  I  may  have 
done.    I  stand  on  my  achievement. 

And  with  this,  I  commit  my  life-story  to  the 
kind  consideration  of  readers. 

Citizen  George  Francis  Train. 

The  Mills  Palace, 

September  22,  '02. 


XV 


r 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

When  I  Was  Four  Years  Old.    1833  ....       2 

New  Orleans  then  my  home — All  the  family  except  myself 
perish  from  yellow  fever. 

CHAPTER  II 

My  Voyage  from  New  Orleans  to  Boston.    1833    .      16 
Four  years  old  and  the  sole  passenger — Sailors  teach  me  to 
swear — My  aunt  shocked  at  my  depravity. 

CHAPTER  III 

My  Boyhood  on  a  Farm,    1833-1843     ....     21 

My  grandfather  a  noted  Methodist  preacher — My  first 
money  earned. 

CHAPTER  IV 

Schooldays  and  a  Start  in  Life.    1840-1844     .       .     35 
Leader  of  the  school — George  Ripley  my  school-teacher — 
Emerson  comes  to  our  village  to  lecture — Boston  visited. 

CHAPTER  V 

Early  New  Ei^gland  Methodism 45 

How  I  was  reared  religiously — Ideas  of  right  and  wrong — 
Things  outgrown. 

CHAPTER  VI 

In  a  Shipping  House  in  Boston.    1844-1850 

A  place  with  my  uncle — Progress  rapidly  made— I  sell  Em- 
erson a  ticket  for  Liverpool — I  engage  Rufus  Choate  and 
Daniel  Webster  as  our  lawyers — My  first  speculation — 
Building  fast  ships. 

2  xvii 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


CHAPTER  VII 

PAOK 

A  Vacation  Tour.    1850 79 

In  Washington  I  meet  Webster,  Clay,  and  President  Tay- 
lor— A  letter  with  their  autographs  that  served  me  well. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

A  Partner  in  the  Liverpool  House.    1850-1852       .      90 
In  Scotland  Lord  John  Russell  receives  me,  and  I  meet 
Lady  Russell — Reform  in  the  shipping  business — Money 
we  made — The  Duke  of  Wellington — I  visit  Chatsworth. 

CHAPTER  IX 

My  Courtship   and  Marriage — Return  to  Liver- 
pool.   1850-1852 109 

How  I  first  met  my  wife — Engaged  to  marry  her  within 
forty-eight  hours — Governors  in  my  charge — Our  wedding 
and  the  commotion  that  preceded  it — Phrenology. 

CHAPTER  X 
Business  Success  in  Australia.    1853-1855.       .       .    126 

A  fine  income  at  twenty-one — Melbourne  in  those  days — 
American  ideas  introduced — Accused  of  stealing  $2,000,000. 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  Gold-Fever  in  New  South  Wales  and  Tas- 
mania.   1853-1855 141 

Lucky  and  unlucky  miners — David  D.  Porter — Sydney  in 
those  days — Free  immigrants — Sir  John  Franklin. 

CHAPTER  XII 

Other  Australian  Incidents— A  Revolution  .       .    156 

Proposed  as  a  candidate  for  President — Riotous  times — 
Curious  incidents  in  business. 

CHAPTER  XIII 
A  Voyage  to  China.    1855 171 

Failure  of  ambitious  plans — My  first  love  of  flowers — A 
remarkable  Dutch  colony. 

xviii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XIV  „,^, 

In  Chinese  Cities.    1855-1856 182 

Hetty  Green's  husband  in  Hongkong  with  me — Pirates  and 
the  slave  trade — Honesty  of  the  Chinaman — Eating  rats — 
Pidgin-English — Li  Hung  Chang  on  board. 

CHAPTER  XV 
To  India  and  the  Holy  Land.    1856    ....    204 
New  ideas  in  religion — My   early  Methodism  recalled — 
Where  Christ  was  born. 

CHAPTER  XVI 

In  the  Crimea.    1856 215 

Plans  in  speculation  that  came  to  naught — The  war,  and 
what  I  learned  ol  it. 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Home  Once  More,  and  then  a  Return  to  Europe. 

1856-1857 221 

Boston  and  New  York  after  a  long  absence — With  my  wife 
I  go  to  Paris. 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

Men  I  Met  in  Paris.    1857 226 

A  ball  at  the  Tuileries — Eugenie  very  gracious  to  me — ^An 
unexpected  woman  comes  in — William  H.  Seward. 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Building  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Rail- 
way.   1857-1858 237 

Queen  Maria  Christina's  fortune  employed — Salamanca,  the 
banker — How  I  secured  a  great  loan. 

CHAPTER  XX 

A  Visit  to  Russia,    1857 249 

I  carry  a  message  to  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine — A  din- 
ner with  Colonel  Greig — Moscow  and  the  Nijnii  Novgorod 

fair. 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Building  the  First  Street-Railways  in  England  .    259 

A  line  in  Liverpool  that  still  exists — Making  a  start  in 
London — Better  success  in  Staffordshire. 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


CHAPTER  XXII 

PAGE 

England  and  our  Civil  War— Blockade  Eunning  .    271 
Speeches  for  the  Union  in  London  halls — A  plan  to  end  the 
war — Lincoln  and  Seward — Arrested  for  interrupting  Sum- 
ner in  Boston — Dining  with  Seward  when  Antietam  was 

fought. 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

Bthlding  the  Union  Pacific  Railway.    1862-1870   .    283 
Early  belief  in  such  a  project — The  Credit  Mobilier  and  its 
origin — Men  with  whom  I  was  associated. 

CHAPTER  XXIV 
The  Development  of  the  Far  West.    1863-1870      .    293 
Plan  for  a  chain  of  great  cities  across  the  continent — ^The 
creation  of  Omaha — Cozzen's  Hotel — Tour  of  the  Pacific 
Coast. 

CHAPTER  XXV 

The  Share  I  Had  in  the  French  Commune.    1870  .    301 
In  Marseilles  I  help  to  organize  the  "  Ligue  du  Midi "  of  the 
Commune  or  "  Red  Republic  "—Attacked  by  soldiers  and 
almost  shot — Imprisoned  and  poisoned — Deported  by  Gam- 
betta. 

CHAPTER  XXVI 

A  Candidate  for  President.    1872       .       .       .       .314 
"  Train  Villa  "  at  Newport — Independent  candidate  for  the 
presidency  against  Grant  and  Greeley — A  tour  of  the  coun- 
try, in  which  I  address  hundreds  of  thousands. 

CHAPTER  XXVII 

Declared  a  Lunatic.    1872-1873 323 

^  I  defend  Mrs.  WoodhuU — Arrested  and  imprisoned  for 

^         quoting   Scripture — Fifteenth    imprisonment    without   a 
%''  crime. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Around  the  World   in  Eighty,  Sixty-seven,  and 

Sixty  Days.    1870,  1890, 1892 331 

The  tour  that  Jules  Verne  used  as  the  basis  of  his  famous 
story— In  '90  I  circle  the  globe  in  67  days  ;  and  in  '92  in  60 
days. 

XX 


ILLUSTPwATIONS 


TACTVa 
PAGE 


Portrait  of  Citizen  Train  made  recently     .        FYontitpitce 
Portrait  of  Citizen  Train's  grandfather,  the  Rev.  George 

Pickering 2 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  George  Francis  Train       ....    110 
Citizen  Train  in  the  Mills  Hotel  dictating  his  Reminis- 
cences       200 

Citizen  Train's  former  residence  in  Madison  Avenue, 

New  York 286 

Citizen  Train's  former  villa  at  Newx>ort  ....  314 
Citizen  Train  with  the  children  in  Madison  Square  .  324 
Citizen   Train  and  his  guests  at  dinner  in  the  Mills 

Hotel 338 


XXI 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES  AND 
IN  FOREIGN  LANDS 


CHAPTER   I 

WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS  OLD 
1833 

My  grandfather  was  the  Reverend  George  Pick- 
ering, of  Baltimore — a  slave-owner.  Having  fallen 
in  with  the  early  Methodists,  long  before  Garri- 
son, Phillips,  and  Beecher  had  taken  up  the  abo- 
lition idea,  he  liberated  his  slaves  and  went  to 
preaching  the  Gospel.  He  became  an  itinerant 
Methodist  preacher,  with  the  pitiable  salary  of 
$300  a  year.  The  sale  of  one  of  his  "prime" 
negro  slaves  would  have  brought  him  in  more 
money  than  four  years  of  preaching.  He  would 
have  been  stranded  very  soon  if  he  had  not  had 
the  good  sense  to  marry  my  beautiful  grand-  v^ 
mother,  who  had  a  thousand-acre  farm  at  Walt- 
ham,  ten  miles  out  of  Boston.  My  grandfather 
thus  could  preach  around  about  the  neighborhood, 
and  then  come  back  to  the  family  at  home.  My 
father  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  this  Method- 
ist preaching  grandfather  of  mine,  Maria  Picker- 
ing. 

1 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

I  was  born  at  No.  21  High  Street,  Boston,  dur- 
ing a  snow-storm,  on  the  24th  of  March,  '29. 
When  I  was  a  baby,  my  father  went  to  New  Orleans 
and  opened  a  store.  Soon  after  arriving  in  that 
city  I  was  old  enough  to  observe  things,  and  to  re- 
member. I  can  recollect  almost  everything  in  my 
life  from  my  fourth  year.  From  the  time  I  was 
three  years  old  up  to  this  present  moment — a  long 
stretch  of  seventy  years,  the  Prophet's  limit  of 
human  life — I  can  remember  almost  every  event 
in  my  life  with  the  greatest  distinctness.  This 
book  of  mine  will  be  a  pretty  fair  test  of  my 
memory. 

I  can  remember  the  beautiful  flowers  of  the 
South.  How  deeply  they  impressed  themselves 
upon  my  mind  I  I  can  recall  the  garden  with  its 
wonderful  floral  wealth,  the  gift  of  the  Southern 
sun.  I  can  recollect  exactly  how  the  old  clothes- 
line used  to  look,  with  its  load  of  linen — the  rest- 
ing-place of  the  long-bodied  insects  we  called 
"  devil's  darning  needles,"  or  mosquito  hawks — 
and  how  we  children  used  to  strike  the  line  with 
poles,  to  frighten  the  insects  and  see  them  fly  away 
on  their  filmy  wings.  And  I  can  remember  going 
down  to  my  father's  store,  filling  the  pockets  of 
my  little  frock  with  dried  currants,  which  I  thought 
were  lovely,  and  watching  him  there  at  his  work. 

Then  came  the  terrible  yellow-fever  year.  It 
is  still  known  there  as  the  year  of  the  fever,  or  of 
the  plague.    This  fearful  epidemic  swept  over  the 

2 


Rev.  Georjie   Pickciiiiii-,   Gt'orjje  Ffiiiu-is  Train's  srrandfather. 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS  OLD 

city,  and  left  it  a  city  of  the  dead.  It  was  a  catas- 
trophe recalled  to  me  by  that  of  Martinique.  My 
family  suffered  with  the  rest  of  the  city.  I  re- 
member well  the  horror  of  the  time.  There  were 
no  hearses  to  be  had.  Physicians  and  undertak- 
ers had  gone  to  the  grave  with  their  patients  and 
patrons.  The  city  could  not  afford  to  bury  de- 
cently so  many  of  its  dead  inhabitants.  And  the 
fear  of  the  plague  had  so  shaken  the  human  soul 
that  men  stood  afar  off,  aghast,  and  did  only  what 
they  had  to  do  in  a  coarse,  brutal,  swift  burial  of 
the  dead. 

There  were  no  coffins  to  be  had,  and  no  one 
could  have  got  them  if  there  had  been  enough  of 
them.  Corpses  were  buried,  all  alike,  in  coarse 
pine  boxes,  hastily  put  together  in  the  homes — and 
often  by  the  very  hands — of  the  relatives  of  the 
dead.  One  day  they  brought  into  our  home  a 
coarse  pine  box.  I  did  not  know  what  it  was  or 
for  what  it  was  meant.  Then  I  saw  them  take  the 
dead  body  of  my  little  sister  Josephine  and  put  it 
hastily  into  the  rough  pine  box.  I  was  too  young 
to  understand  it  all,  but  I  can  never  forget  that 
scene ;  it  starts  tears  even  now.  After  nailing  up 
the  box  and  marking  it  to  go  "  To  the  Train 
Vaults,"  the  family  sat  and  waited  for  the  coming 
of  the  "  dead  wagon."  The  city  sent  round  cart- 
ers to  pick  up  the  numerous  dead,  just  as  it  had 
formerly  sent  out  scavenger  carts  to  take  away 
the  refuse. 

3 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


We  could  hear  the  "  dead  wagon "  as  it  ap- 
proached. We  knew  it  by  the  dolorous  cry  of  the 
driver.  It  drew  nearer  and  nearer  to  our  home. 
It  all  seemed  so  terrible,  and  yet  I  could  not  un- 
derstand it.  I  heard  the  wagon  stop  under  our 
window.  Now  the  scene  all  comes  back  to  me,  and 
it  recalls  the  rumble  and  rattle  of  those  tumbrels 
of  the  French  Reign  of  Terror:  only  it  was  the 
fever,  instead  of  the  guillotine,  that  demanded  its 
victims.  The  driver  would  not  enter  the  pest- 
stricken  houses.  He  remained  in  his  cart,  and 
shouted  out,  in  a  heart-tearing  cry,  to  the  inmates 
to  bring  their  dead  to  him.  As  he  drove  up  to  our 
window  he  placed  his  hands  around  his  mouth,  as 
a  hunter  does  in  making  a  halloo,  and  cried: 
"Bring  out — bring  out  your  dead!" 

The  long-wailed  dolorous  cry  filled  the  streets, 
empty  of  their  frequenters :  "  Bring  out — bring 
out  your  dead  I "  Again  at  our  home  the  cry  was 
heard ;  and  I  saw  my  father  and  others  lift  up  the 
coarse  pine  box,  with  the  body  of  my  little  sister 
shut  inside,  carry  it  to  the  window,  and  toss  it  into 
the  "  dead  wagon."  And  then  the  wagon  rattled 
away  down  the  street,  and  again,  as  it  stopped 
under  the  window  of  the  next  house,  over  the 
doomed  city  rang  the  weird  cry:  "Bring  out — 
bring  out  your  dead  1 " 

A  few  days  later  another  rough  pine  box 
was  brought  to  our  home.  Again  I  did  not  under- 
stand it;  but  I  knew  more  of  the  mystery  of 

4 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS  OLD 


death  tlian  I  had  known  before.  Into  this  box 
they  placed  the  body  of  my  little  sister  Louise. 
Then  we  waited  for  the  approach  of  the  "  dead 
waKon."  I  knew  tliat  it  would  again  come 
to  our  home,  to  get  its  freight  of  death.  I 
went  to  the  window,  and  looked  up  and  down 
the  street,  and  waited.  Far  in  the  distance, 
I  heard  the  cry:  "Bring  out — bring  out  your 
dead !  " 

The  wagon  finally  arrived.  The  window  was 
thrown  open,  the  rude  box  was  lifted  up,  taken  to 
the  window,  and  thrown  into  the  wagon,  which 
was  already  loaded  with  similar  boxes.  They 
were  in  great  haste,  it  seemed  to  me,  to  be  rid  of 
the  poor  little  box.  And  the  carter  drove  on  down 
the  street  to  other  stricken  homes,  crying:  "  Bring 
out — bring  out  your  dead !  " 

I  now  began  to  feel  the  loss  of  my  sisters.  Two 
had  gone.  Only  one  was  left  with  me,  my  little 
sister  Ellen,  as  frail  and  as  lovely  a  flower  as  ever 
bloomed.  When  the  next  box  came,  and  she,  dead 
of  the  T)lague,  was  put  into  it,  I  thought  it  time  for 
me  to  interfere.  I  went  to  the  window  and  stood 
guard.  Again  came  the  terrible  cry:  "Bring  out 
^bring  out  your  dead  I  "  And  my  last  little  sister 
was  taken  away  in  the  "  dead  wagon." 

I  was  too  young  to  understand  it  all,  but  I  re- 
member going  with  my  father  and  mother  in  the 
carriage  every  time  they  carried  one  of  my  sisters 
to  the  graveyard. 

5 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

The  next  strange  thing  to  happen  was  the 
arrival  in  the  house  of  a  box  much  larger  than 
the  others.  I  did  not  know  what  it  could  be  for. 
The  box  was  very  rough  looking.  It  was  made  of 
unplaned  boards.  My  nurse  told  me  it  was  for 
my  mother.  Again  I  took  my  stand  by  the  win- 
dow. "  Bring  out — bring  out  your  dead !  "  re- 
sounded mournfully  in  the  street  just  below  the 
window  where  I  stood.  I  looked  out,  and  there 
was  the  "  dead  wagon."  It  had  come  for  my 
mother. 

I  was  astonished  to  find  that  they  did  not 
throw  the  box  containing  my  mother  into  the 
wagon.  It  was  too  large  and  heavy.  Four  or  five 
men  had  to  come  into  the  house  and  take  out  the 
box.  It  was  marked  "  To  the  Train  Vaults,"  and 
was  put  into  the  wagon  with  the  other  boxes  con- 
taining dead  bodies.  Only  my  father  and  I  sat  in 
the  carriage  that  went  to  the  cemetery  and  to  the 
vaults  that  day.  There  were  my  mother  and  my 
three  little  sisters ;  all  had  been  swept  from  me  in 
this  St.  Pierre  style — in  this  volcano  of  yellow 
fever. 

Finally  there  came  one  day  a  letter  from  my 
grandmother,  the  wife  of  the  old  Methodist  itin- 
erant preacher  of  Waltham :  "  Send  on  some  one 
of  the  family,  before  they  are  all  dead.  Send 
George."  And  so  my  father  made  preparations 
to  send  me  back  to  Massachusetts.  I  can  remem- 
ber now  the  exact  wording  of  the  card  he  wrote 

6 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS  OLD 


and  pinned  on  my  coat,  just  like  the  label  or  tag 
on  a  bag  of  coffee.    It  read: 

*'  This  is  my  little  son  George  Francis  Train.  Four 
years  old.  Consigned  on  board  the  ship  Henry  to 
John  Clarke,  Jr.,  Dock  Square,  Boston  ;  to  be  sent 
to  his  Grandmother  Pickering,  at  Waltham,  ten  miles 
from  Boston.  Take  good  care  of  the  Little  Fellow,  as  ^ 
he  is  the  only  one  left  of  eleven  of  us  in  the  house, 
including  the  servants  [slaves].  I  will  come  on  as 
soon  as  I  can  arrange  my  Business." 

I  remember  how  we  went  down  to  the  ship  in 
the  river.  She  lay  out  in  the  broad,  muddy  Mis- 
sissippi, and  seven  other  vessels  lay  between  her 
and  the  shore.  Planks  were  laid  on  the  bank,  or 
"  levee,"  as  they  called  the  shore  in  New  Orleans, 
and  up  to  the  side  of  the  nearest  ship.  We  climbed 
over  these  planks  and  passed  over  the  seven  ves- 
sels, and  came  to  the  Henry.  My  father  kissed 
me  good-by,  and  left  me  on  board  the  ship. 

There  I  was,  aboard  this  great  vessel — for  so 
she  seemed  to  me  then — a  little  boy,  without  nurse 
or  guardian  to  look  after  me.  I  was  just  so  much 
freight.  I  was  part  of  the  cargo.  We  floated 
down  the  Mississippi  slowly,  and  floated  on  and 
on  toward  the  Gulf.  We  were  floating  out  into  the 
great  waters,  into  the  great  world,  floating  through 
the  waters  of  Gulf  and  ocean,  floating  along  in  the 
Gulf  Stream,  and  floating  on  toward  my  North- 
ern home. 

Thus  I  was  floating,  when  I  began  my  life 
anew ;  and  I  have  been  floating  for  seventy  years  I 

7 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

When  my  father  said  good-by  to  me,  kissing 
me  as  we  passed  over  the  last  of  the  seven  ships 
between  the  Henry  and  the  shore,  I  saw  him 
put  a  handkerchief  to  his  face,  as  if  to  hide  from 
me  the  tears  that  were  in  his  eyes.  He  feared  that 
my  nttle  heart  would  break  down  under  the  strain. 
But  I  didn't  cry.  Everything  was  so  new  to  me.  I 
was  too  small  to  realize  all  that  the  parting  meant 
and  all  that  had  led  up  to  it.  I  could  not  feel  that 
I  was  leaving  behind  me  all  the  members  of  my 
family — in  the  vaults  of  the  graveyard.  The  ship 
seemed  a  new  world  to  me.  I  had  no  eyes  for 
tears — only  for  wonderment. 

For  many  years  afterward  I  heard  nothing  of 
my  father.  He  had  dropped  below  the  horizon 
when  I  floated  down  the  Mississippi,  and  I  saw 
and  .heard  nothing  more  of  him.  As  my  mother 
and  three  sisters  had  been  buried  together  in  New 
Orleans,  we  had  taken  it  for  granted  that  father 
had  followed  them  to  the  grave,  a  victim  of  the 
same  pestilence.  But  nothing  was  known  as  to 
this  for  many  years. 

We  were  anxious  to  have  all  the  bodies  brought 
together  in  one  graveyard  in  the  North  and  buried 
side  by  side.  The  family  burying-ground  was  at 
Waltham,  where  eight  generations  were  then  sleep- 
ing— that  is,  eight  generations  of  Pickerings  and 
Bemises.  There  were  the  bodies  of  my  great- 
grandmother,  and  of  ancestors  belonging  to  the 
first  Colonial  days.    My  cousin,  George  Pickering 

8 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS  OLD 

Bemis,  Mayor  of  Omalia,  afterward  had  a  monu- 
ment erected  over  the  spot  where  so  many  Bemises 
and  Pickerings  lay  in  their  long  rest,  to  preserve 
their  memory.  But  my  father's  body  was  never 
to  rest  there;  nor  was  it  ever  seen  by  any  of  his 
relatives. 

My  uncle,  John  Clarke,  Jr.,  who  had  brought 
me  out  of  New  Orleans  and  rescued  me  from  the 
plague,  tried  to  find  some  trace  of  my  father ;  but 
no  record  or  vestige  of  him  could  be  found  in  that 
city.  Every  trace  of  him  had  been  swept  away. 
His  very  existence  there  had  been  forgotten, 
erased.  No  one  could  be  found  who  had  ever  heard 
of  him,  or  knew  anything  about  his  store.  So 
completely  had  the  pestilence  done  its  terrible 
work  of  destruction  and  obliteration.  As  this 
period  was  prior  to  the  invention  of  the  daguer- 
reotype, we  had  no  photographs  of  him.  The 
only  likenesses  that  were  made  then  were  ex- 
pensive miniatures  on  ivory.  I  have  no  picture 
of  him,  except  the  one  I  carry  forever  in  my 
memory. 

Sixty  years  passed  away.  One  day  I  received  a 
letter  from  one  of  my  cousins,  Louisa  Train,  who 
was  living  in  Michigan.  She  told  me  that  her 
father  and  mother  had  died,  and  that  the  furniture 
of  the  old  house,  in  which  they  and  her  grand- 
parents had  lived,  had  fallen  to  her.  "  In  moving 
an  old  bureau,"  she  wrote,  "  it  fell  to  pieces,  and, 
to  my  surprise,  two  documents  rolled  upon  the 

9 


-^ 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

floor.  These  papers  relate  to  you.  One  of  them 
was  a  letter  from  your  father  to  his  mother,  writ- 
ten from  New  Orleans  shortly  before  you  left  that 
city.    In  it  he  says: 

"  *  You  can  imagine  my  loneliness  in  being  in 
this  great  house,  always  so  lively,  with  eleven  per- 
sons in  it,  including  my  own  family — now  all 
alone.  George  is  with  his  tutor.  He  is  a  very 
extraordinary  boy,  though  only  four  years  old. 
The  other  day  he  repeated  some  verses,  of  which 
I  can  remember  these  lines: 

** '  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey  ; 

My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute  ; 
From  the  center  all  round  to  the  sea, 
I  am  lord  of  the  fowl  and  the  brute.' " 

I  was  to  receive  one  other  message  from  my 
father.  Since  I  began  writing  this  autobiography, 
my  aged  aunt,  Abigail  Pickering  Frost,  now  in 
her  ninetieth  year,  discovered  a  letter  that  my 
father  had  written  to  her  and  to  her  sister,  my 
aunt  Alice,  who  afterward  married  Henry  A. 
Winslow,  upon  the  day  that  he  placed  me  on  the 
ship  Henry,  and  sent  me  to  my  grandmother  at 
"Waltham,  Mass.  Aunt  Abigail,  after  the  death  of 
aunt  Alice,  who  was  one  of  the  victims  in  the 
wreck  of  the  Lexington,  in  January,  *40,  hid  the 
letter  in  the  garret  of  the  old  Waltham  farmhouse, 
where  she  later  discovered  it.  She  now  sends  it 
to  me  from  her  home  in  Omaha,  Neb.,  where  it 
had  again  been  lost,   and  found   after  a   long 

10 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS   OLD 

search,  as  slie  knew  that  I  would  appreciate  it  as 
a  part  of  my  life-story. 

The  letter  came  to  me  as  a  wail  from  the  dead. 
I  was  very  young,  and  childish,  and  thoughtless 
when  I  parted  from  him  forever;  but  his  letter 
brought  back  to  me  in  a  flood  the  bitterness  of  our 
life  in  New  Orleans,  the  loneliness  of  my  father  in 
his  great  grief,  and  made  me  suffer,  nearly  seven- 
ty years  afterward,  for  the  pain  that  I  was  then 
too  young  to  understand  or  feel.  I  give  this  letter, 
which  is  inexpressibly  dear  to  me,  just  as  it  was 
written. 

"New  Orleans,  June  10th,  18S3. 

"  Dear  Sisters  Abigail  and  Alice  : 

"  'Tis  just  two  years  since  I  left  this  place  for 
New  York,  and  arrived  in  Boston  the  evening  of 
the  3d  of  July.  I  hope  my  dear  boy  will  arrive 
safe  and  pass  the  4th  of  July  with  you.  He  is  now 
on  board  the  ship  (and  the  steamboat  alongside 
the  ship)  to  the  Balize.  I  have  written  several  let- 
ters by  the  ship,  and  found  I  had  a  few  moments 
to  spare  which  I  will  improve  by  addressing  you. 
I  refer  you  to  the  letters  to  Mother  Pickering  for 
particulars — as  I  have  not  time  to  say  much.  I  can 
only  say,  my  dear  girls,  that  I  am  very  unhappy 
here  for  reasons  you  well  know.  /  part  with  George 
as  though  I  teas  parting  with  my  right  eye — but  'tis 
for  his  good  and  the  happiness  of  all  that  he 
should  go ;  take  him  to  your  own  home,  care,  and 

8  11 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

protection;  he  is  no  ordinary  hoy,  hut  is  destitied  for 
a  great  scholar. 

"  I  am  left  here  without  a  friend  except  my  God ! 
in  a  city  where  the  cholera  is  raging  to  a  great  ex- 
tent— 100  are  dying  daily!  and  among  them  some 
of  the  most  valuable  citizens.  A  sweet  little  girl 
about  the  age  of  Ellen,  and  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance of  George's,  who  used  to  walk  arm  in  arm 
with  him,  died  this  morning  with  the  cholera,  and 
a  great  number  of  others  among  our  most  inti- 
mate acquaintances  have  passed  on.  Mrs.  Simons 
died  in  six  hours !  What  is  life  worth  to  me?  Oh, 
my  dear  sisters !  could  I  leave  this  dreadful  place 
I  would,  and  die  among  my  friends !  The  thoughts 
of  my  dear  Maria  and  Ellen  fill  me  with  sorrow! 
I  have  mourned  over  their  tombs  in  silence.  I 
have  been  with  them  in  my  dreams,  and  frequently 
I  meet  them  in  my  room  and  talk  with  them  as 
though  alive.  All  here  is  melancholy.  When 
shall  I  see  you,  God  only  knows !  I  have  relieved 
my  heavy  heart  of  a  burden — a  weight  that  was 
almost  unsupportable. 

"  In  parting  with  my  lovely  hoy  I  have  bequeathed 
him  to  Mother  Pickering  as  a  legacy — it  being  all 
that  I  possess !  You  will  take  a  share  of  the  care, 
and  I  know  will  be  all  that  mothers  could  be  for 
your  dear  sister  Maria's  sake! 

"  Give  my  love  to  Grandpa  Bemis,  Father  Pick- 
ering, and  all  the  rest  of  the  family.  Say  to  them 
that  my  mind  is  constantly  with  them,  and  will  ever 

12 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEARS   OLD 


be  so.  I  have  written  in  great  haste  and  very 
badly,  as  I  am  on  board  the  ship  and  all  is  confu- 
sioTif  with  the  steamboat  alongside.  Farewell,  my 
dear  sisters!  Do  write  me  a  line.  If  you  knew 
how  much  I  prize  a  letter  from  you,  you  would 
write  often.  Adieu,  and  believe  me  your  affection- 
ate brother, 

"  Oliver  Train. 

"  To  Misses  Abigail  and  Alice  Pickering, 
Waltham,  Mass." 

The  other  document  mentioned  by  my  cousin 
Louisa,  was  the  deed  of  a  farm  by  my  paternal 
grandfather,  making  a  certain  physician  trustee  of 
the  property.  I  never  came  into  that  property! 
This  was  my  first  bequest.  I  had  begun,  even  in 
my  infancy,  to  give  away  my  property,  and  I 
have  thrown  it  away  ever  since.  This  first 
"  bequest,"  however,  was  none  of  my  making, 
although  I  accepted  it,  without  trying  to  question 
the  matter. 

Another  involuntary  "  bequest "  of  my  child- 
hood was  brought  about  in  this  way.  My  mother, 
when  a  girl,  was  engaged  to  marry  Stebbins  Fiske. 
It  was  by  a  mere  chance  that  they  were  not  married 
— and  therefore  my  name  is  "  Train  "  by  a  mere 
accident  which  changed  the  fate  of  my  mother  and 
her  fiance.  My  father  was  a  warm  friend  of  Steb- 
bins Fiske,  and  when  Fiske  was  called  suddenly 
to  New  Orleans,  just  before  the  day  set  for  the 
marriage,  he  left  his  betrothed,  Maria  Pickering, 

13 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

in  cliarge  of  my  father.  The  result  might  have 
been  foreseen.  It  is  the  common  theme  of  ro- 
mance the  world  over.  My  mother  and  my  father 
fell  in  love  with  each  other,  and  were  married. 
There  was  no  thought  of  unfaithfulness;  it  was 
merely  inevitable.  Fiske  understood  the  situation, 
and  forgave  both  of  them,  and  continued  the  stanch 
friend  of  both. 

In  his  will  Fiske  left  a  small  sum— $5,000— to 
my  mother's  mother.  It  was  the  most  delicate 
way  in  which  he  could  leave  some  of  his  money 
so  that  his  old  sweetheart  might  get  it.  The  terms 
of  the  will  were  that  this  money  should  be  divided 
at  my  grandmother's  death.  It  was  so  divided, 
and  a  certain  portion  of  it  should  have  come  to 
me;  but  I  never  received  a  penny.  This  was  my 
second  bequest,  for  I  allowed  others  to  take  freely 
what  belonged  to  me. 

My  third  bequest  was  made  with  my  eyes  open. 
"When  I  was  about  starting  for  Australia  in  *53, 
another  uncle-in-law,  George  W.  Frost,  whom  I 
afterward  appointed  purchasing  agent  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railway,  a  splendid  gentleman  and 
a  clergyman,  came  to  me  and  said :  "  Your  Aunt 
Abbie  "  (his  wife)  "  and  myself  are  going  to  take 
care  of  your  old  grandmother  on  the  farm.  Have 
you  any  objections  to  signing  away  your  interest 
in  the  old  place?" 

I  said  that,  of  course,  I  would  sign  it  away.  I 
was  all  right.    I  was  going  out  into  the  great  world 

14 


WHEN  I  WAS  FOUR  YEAES  OLD 

to  make  fortunes.    And  I  signed  it  away,  as  if  it 
were  a  mere  nothing. 

These  incidents  I  mention  here  as  illustrations 
of  my  whole  life.  Since  my  fourth  year  I  have 
given  away — thrown  away — money.  I  have  made 
others  rich.  But  I  have  never  yet  got  what  was 
due  me  from  others. 


15 


CHAPTER   II 

MY  VOYAGE   FROM   NEW   ORLEANS  TO   BOSTON 

1833 

I  FOUND  myself  a  part  of  the  cargo — shipped 
as  freight,  2,000  miles,  from  the  tropics  to  the 
arctic  region,  without  a  friend  to  take  care  of 
me.  I  was  alone.  This  feeling,  however,  did  not 
oppress  me  oveimuch.  Every  one  on  board  tried 
to  make  a  pet  of  me,  and,  besides,  there  was  so 
much  to  do,  so  much  to  see,  so  much  to  feel.  From 
cabin  to  fo'cas'le  I  was  made  welcome. 

There  was  only  one  cabin  passenger  besides 
myself.  I  sat  at  table  opposite  this  passenger,  and 
I  remember  that  at  the  first  meal  they  brought  on 
some  "flapjacks"  (our  present-day  wheat-cakes). 
I  was  very  fond  of  them,  and  ate  them  with  sirup 
or  molasses.  I  noticed  that  my  companion  in  the 
cabin  did  not  use  molasses  with  his.  I  could  not 
imderstand  why  any  one  should  eat  his  flapjacks 
without  molasses. 

I  thought  this  stranger  too  ignorant  to  know 
that  molasses  was  the  proper  thing  with  flapjacks, 
and  tried  to  help  him  to  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the 

16 


FROM  NEW  ORLEANS  TO  BOSTON 


resources  of  the  table.  I  reached  over,  and  tried 
to  pour  some  molasses  on  his  plate.  Just  then  a 
heavy  sea  struck  the  ship,  and  I  was  thrown  for- 
ward with  a  lurch.  The  entire  contents  of  the 
molasses  jug  went  in  a  flood  over  the  man's  trou- 
sers! Of  course  he  was  furious,  and  did  not  ap- 
preciate my  efforts  to  teach  him.  I  expected  him 
to  strike  me,  but  he  did  not.  It  did  not  occur  to 
me  to  beg  his  pardon,  as  I  was  doing  what  I 
thought  to  be  a  pure  act  of  kindness.  We  after- 
ward became  good  friends. 

We  were  twenty-three  days  on  the  voyage.  Be- 
fore we  had  been  aboard  long  I  became  friendly 
with  everybody  on  the  ship,  and  they  with  me. 
I  was  very  active,  and  had  the  run  of  the  boat.  I 
was  like  a  parrot,  a  goat,  or  a  monkey — or  all 
three.  There  was  no  stewardess  on  the  boat,  and 
as  I  had  no  one  to  look  after  me,  I  led  a  wild  sort 
of  life.  I  lived  in  the  fo'cas'le,  or  with  the  sailors 
on  deck  or  in  the  riggings.  I  liked  the  fo'cas'le 
best.  I  soon  got  to  feel  at  home  there.  Sometimes 
I  was  in  the  cabin  with  my  molasses-hating  friend, 
but  the  fo'cas'le  was  my  delight,  and  there  I  was 
to  be  found  at  all  hours.  During  the  twenty-three 
days  of  the  voyage  I  was  not  washed  once  I  I  wore 
the  same  clothes  days  and  nights,  and  became  a 
little  dirty  savage ! 

It  may  be  easily  imagined  that  communication 
with  these  rough,  coarse,  honest,  but  vulgar  sail- 
ors had  a  terrible  effect  on  me.    Everything  bad 

17 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

that  is  known  to  sailors  these  sailors  knew,  and 
very  soon  I  knew.  I  observed  everything,  learned 
everything.  I  soon  cursed  and  swore  as  roundly 
as  any  of  them,  using  the  words  as  innocently  as  if 
they  were  quotations  from  the  Bible. 

One  of  the  games  the  sailors  used  to  play  with 
me  was  to  go  up  into  the  rigging  and  call  down  to 
me  that  there  was  a  great  plantation  up  there  that 
I  could  not  see.  Then  they  would  throw  lumps  of 
sugar  to  me  and  tell  me  they  came  from  the  planta- 
tion in  the  rigging,  and  monkeys  were  throwing 
them  to  me.  Of  course  I  believed  it  all.  How  was 
I  to  know  they  were  lying  to  me  ?  I  was  only  four 
years  old.  They  stamped  upon  my  mind  the  whole 
fo'cas'le — its  rough  life,  its  jollity,  its  oaths,  and 
its  lies. 

As  soon  as  our  ship  came  to  anchor  out  came  a 
boat  with  my  uncle.  I  remember  that  there  was  a 
little  dog  in  the  boat  also.  My  uncle  took  me  to 
the  wharf,  and  then  to  his  tobacco  store  in  Dock 
Square.  There  I  found  awaiting  us  an  old-fash- 
ioned chaise,  and  my  uncle  said  he  would  take 
me  right  out  to  my  grandmother's,  at  Waltham. 
The  drive  took  us  through  two  or  three  villages, 
and  through  several  strips  of  forest.  Finally  we 
drove  up  to  a  little  gate  that  stood  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  old  farmhouse,  and  divided  the  next 
place  from  the  farm  of  my  grandmother.  There 
were  my  aunts,  all  waiting  for  me. 

Imagine  the  astonishment  of  my  grandmother 

18 


FKOM  NEW  OKLEANS  TO  BOSTON 

and  of  my  aunts  on  seeing  the  dirty  little  street 
Arab  that  came  to  see  them  I  I  was  as  intolerably 
filthy  as  any  brat  that  ever  came  out  of  a  sewer. 
I  fairly  reeked  with  the  smells  and  the  dirt  of  the 
fo'cas'lel  To  the  dust  and  grime  of  New  Orleans 
I  had  added  the  dust  and  grime  of  the  ship,  for  I 
had  not  been  near  soap  and  water  since  I  left  New 
Orleans.  Fancy  going  to  these  clean  and  prim  old 
ladies  in  such  a  plight  I  But  I  was  at  least  in 
good  health,  and  magnificently  alive. 

The  first  thing  they  did  was  to  summon  a  sort 
of  town-meeting,  to  have  me  narrate  the  events 
of  my  voyage.  But  before  I  was  to  go  before  my 
audience  I  must  be  washed  and  have  a  change  of 
clothes.  This  part  of  the  program  was  postponed 
by  an  accident.  The  ladies  heard  me  swear!  It 
shocked  their  gentle  minds  immeasurably.  But  I 
didn't  know  what  swearing  meant. 

What  can  not  a  boy  learn  in  three  weeks  that  is 
bad?  I  suppose  I  must  have  picked  up  all  the 
wickedness  of  the  fo'cas'le  without  knowing  what 
it  was.  It  seemed  all  right  to  me;  but  not  to  my 
good  grandmother  and  to  my  aunts. 

They  wanted  to  cleanse  me  outwardly  and  in- 
wardly, and  prepared  to  start  outwardly.  They 
insisted  that  I  must  change  my  clothes  and  have 
a  good  scrubbing.  But  before  they  began  I  told 
them  some  of  my  experiences  aboard  ship.  I  told 
them  about  the  sailors  getting  sugar  from  the 
plantation  up  in  the  riggings  and  the  monkeys 

19 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

throwing  it  down  to  me.  They  told  me  there  were 
no  fields  up  there,  no  monkeys  and  no  sugar,  ex- 
cept what  the  sailors  had  carried  up  with  them. 

I  was  indignant.  "  If  you  don't  believe  my 
story,"  said  I,  "  about  the  plantation  in  the  rigging 
and  about  the  monkeys  and  the  sugar,  you  can  not 
wash  me  or  change  my  clothes." 

The  line  of  battle  was  now  drawn.  If  they  did 
not  want  to  believe  my  story,  I  was  not  going  to 
let  them  do  anything  for  me.  That  monkey-and- 
sugar  story  was  my  ultimatum.  They  refused  to 
accept  it.  For  three  days  they  laid  siege  to  me, 
but  I  refused  to  be  washed  or  clothed  in  a  fresh 
clean  suit  until  they  believed  my  story.  I  felt  I 
was  telling  the  truth,  and  could  not  bear  to  have 
my  word  doubted.  Finally  they  said  that  they 
believed  my  story. 

There  is  an  old  tale  of  a  boy  who  was  told  by 
his  parents,  who  did  not  want  him  to  cling  any 
longer  to  the  old  myth  about  Santa  Claus,  that  it 
was  not  Santa  Claus  that  brought  him  all  the  good 
things  on  Christmas,  but  that  they,  his  parents, 
had  been  giving  him  the  presents  year  after  year. 
The  boy  turned  to  his  mother  and  said :  "  Have 
you  been  fooling  me  about  the  God  question  too !  " 


20 


CHAPTER   m 

MY   BOYHOOD   ON   A  FARM 

1833-1843 

The  old  house  where  I  spent  these  years  of  my 
childhood  and  boyhood  is  now  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years  old.  It  was  the  home  of  the  old  Meth- 
odists in  that  section,  and  had  been  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  sect  for  a  hundred  years  before  it  be- 
gan to  have  regular  "  conferences."  Here  lived  the 
slave-owner  Pickering,  who  married  my  grand- 
mother, the  farmer's  daughter.  If  it  had  not  been 
for  this  home,  which  was  a  refuge  and  asylum 
for  the  itinerant  preacher,  grandfather  Pickering 
would  have  starved.  The  farm  was  his  anchorage. 
Otherwise  he  would  have  gone  adrift. 

A  religious  atmosphere  pervaded  the  place.  It 
left  the  deepest  impress  upon  my  mind.  The  only 
paper  we  took  was  Zion's  Herald,  a  religious 
weekly  published  by  Stevens,  of  Boston.  The  dif- 
ference between  this  calm,  religious  life  of  the 
Methodists  and  the  turbulent,  rough,  and  swear- 
ing  life  of  the  fo'cas'le  was  very  marked.  But  it 
took  me  Oflong  time  to  get  away  from  the  atmos- 

21 


MY  LIFE  m  MANY  STATES 

phere  of  the  fo'cas'le  and  into  that  of  the  Meth- 
odists. Even  the  bath  and  the  clean  clothes  did 
not  seem  to  change  me  very  much.  I  discovered 
that  cleanliness  is  not  so  very  near  to  godliness, 
after  all. 

Of  course  the  old  Methodists  had  prayers  in 
the  morning  and  at  night,  and  they  had  grace  at 
every  meal.  Every  one  knelt  at  prayers.  But 
they  could  not  make  me  kneel.  I  would  not  bow 
the  knee.  I  had  not  got  over  the  sailors'  ways, 
and  the  monkeys,  and  the  throwing  down  sugar 
from  the  plantation  in  the  sails — the  Santa  Claus 
part  of  it.    I  always  remembered  it. 

Of  course  I  was  taken  to  the  little  church,  a 
mile  off  up  in  the  woods,  where  my  grandfather 
preached.  It  was  in  his  "  circuit."  As  we  were 
coming  home  one  day,  and  I  was  driving,  the 
chaise  struck  a  stone,  and  the  old  gentleman  was 
jostled  considerably.  He  impatiently  seized  the 
reins  from  me  and  gave  the  horse  a  severe  flip 
with  them,  and  drove  the  rest  of  the  way  himself. 
The  little  incident  made  a  deep  impression  on  my 
mind.  I  said  to  myself :  "  If  this  is  the  way 
Christians  act,  I  do  not  want  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  them." 

The  Pickerings  were  an  ancient  Southern — and 
before  that,  an  English — family.  Some  of  the  mem- 
bers lived  in  South  Carolina,  some  in  Virginia, 
others  in  Maryland.  One  of  them  sat  in  Wash- 
ington's first  cabinet.    Like  my  grandfather,  they 

22 


MY  BOYHOOD  ON  A  FAKM 

were  all  slave-owners.  Judge  Gilbert  Pickering 
was  chairman  of  Cromwell's  committee  that  cut 
off  King  Charles's  head.  Grandfather  Pickering 
was  a  liberal  man  in  many  ways.  I  have  spoken 
already  of  his  freeing  his  own  slaves.  He  chose 
the  calling  of  an  itinerant  Methodist  preacher, 
when  to  do  so  meant  tremendous  financial  sacrifice 
and  the  loss  of  social  rank.  He  almost  starved  at 
it,  but  he  stuck  to  it  with  great  nobleness  of  mind. 
It  gave  him  a  sort  of  religious  freedom. 

Once  he  could  have  been  a  bishop  in  the  New 
England  branch  of  Methodism ;  but  he  refused  the 
ambitious  title.  He  did  not  believe  in  bishops  for 
their  church.  And  so,  setting  aside  every  offer  of 
preferment,  every  opportunity  of  rising  or  getting 
on  in  the  world,  he  chose  to  labor  at  his  simple 
calling,  like  a  martyr.  And  he  would  shortly  have 
found  martyrdom  in  starvation,  had  it  not  been 
for  my  lovely  grandmother,  with  her  thrift  and 
care. 

The  branch  of  Methodists  to  which  my  grand- 
father belonged  was  very  liberal.  It  was  so  lib- 
eral, indeed,  that  my  mother  and  her  five  sisters 
had  all  been  educated  at  the  Ursuline  convent  at 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  which  was  destroyed  by  the 
mob  in  '42.  I  remember  that  after  the  mob 
burned  this  convent  to  the  ground  the  Methodists 
wanted  to  buy  the  site,  and  applied  to  the  Koman 
Catholic  archbishop  in  Boston,  who  replied :  "  "We 
sometimes  purchase,  but  we  never  sell." 

23 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Another  incident  of  my  boyhood  may  be  re- 
called here,  as  it  illustrates  the  stubborn  pride 
that  had  begun  to  show  itself  even  then.  One  day 
an  elegant  carriage  drove  up  to  the  old  house,  and 
a  young  lady,  beautifully  dressed,  got  out  and 
asked  to  see  George  Train.  I  went  up  to  her,  and 
she  told  me  who  she  was. 

"  You  must  remember,  when  you  grow  up,"  she 
said,  "  that  I  am  Miss  Sallie  Rhoades.  We  are  one 
of  the  few  families  of  Maryland,"  she  added,  with 
a  pride  that  was  evident  even  to  my  boyish  eyes, 
"  that  have  been  able  to  support  their  carriages  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years."  She  spoke  with  the 
air  of  a  grande  dame,  which  stung  my  own  pride 
keenly. 

"  While  I  am  very  glad  to  meet  my  Southern 
relative,"  I  said,  with  equal  pride,  even  if  I  could 
not  equal  her  manner,  "  we  have  kept  our  ox-cart 
on  the  old  farm  for  two  hundred  years."  I  ex- 
pected the  additional  half  a  century  to  stagger  her. 
But  it  did  not  seem  to  reach  home ;  and  she  drove 
away.  This  was  the  last  I  ever  saw  of  "Miss 
Sallie  Rhoades,  of  Maryland." 

In  those  days  in  New  England  we  had  to  de- 
pend very  much  on  ourselves  on  the  farm,  and  we 
made  as  much  of  supplies  as  possible.  I  became 
an  adept  at  making  currant  wine,  cider,  maple 
sugar,  molasses  candy,  and  sausages.  I  used  also 
to  make  the  candles  we  burned  on  the  place,  mold- 
ing them  half  a  dozen  at  a  time  in  the  old  candle 

24 


MY  BOYHOOD  ON  A  FAKM 

mold,  -which  was  never  absent  from  a  country 
house  of  that  day.  So,  in  my  lifetime,  I  have 
passed  from  the  period  of  the  tallow  dip  to  the 
electric  light. 

From  four  to  ten  years  of  age  I  earned  my  own^ 
living  on  the  old  farm.  I  believe  it  is  the  only  in- 
stance in  the  world  where  a  child  of  four  supported 
himself  in  this  way.  What  I  mean  by  earning  my 
own  living  is,  that  while  the  expense  of  keeping  a 
little  youngster  like  me  was  very  small,  I  earned 
more  than  enough  to  pay  my  way.  I  dressed  my- 
self. No  one  took  care  of  me.  I  was  left  pretty 
much  alone,  excejDt  in  the  way  of  receiving  relig- 
ious admonition.  I  was  always  running  errands 
for  the  men  and  women  of  the  place.  There  was 
constantly  something  for  me  to  do. 

Moreover,  I  was  very  ambitious.  I  wanted  to 
know  everything  that  was  going  on  about  me. 
This  has  ever  been  my  characteristic.  I  was  born 
inquisitive.  I  have  never  been  afraid  to  ask  ques- 
tions. If  I  ever  saw  anything  I  did  not  under- 
stand, I  asked  about  it ;  and  the  information  stuck 
in  my  mind,  like  a  burr.  I  never  forgot.  I  soon 
learned  everything  there  was  to  be  learned  on  the 
farm. 

The  room  I  slept  in  was  a  great  wide  one,  and 
I  slept  alone.  I  was  not  afraid;  but  I  remember 
the  great  size  and  depth  of  that  cold  New  Eng- 
land room. 

Life  on  the  farm  was  busy  enough.    I  often  set 

25 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

the  table  and  did  other  things  that  the  hired  girl 
did,  and  could  soon  do  almost  everything  just  as 
well  as  she — from  setting  the  table  to  preparing  a 
meal.  All  this  I  learned  before  I  was  ten  years 
old.  I  mention  these  little  details  merely  to  show 
the  difference  between  the  life  I  had  to  lead  in  old 
New  England  and  the  life  my  children  and  grand- 
children have  since  led. 

One  blessing  and  glory  was  that  I  had  the  uni- 
versal atmosphere.  The  woods  and  fields  were 
mine.  I  could  roam  in  the  forest  and  over  the 
fields  at  will.  The  great  farm  was  a  delight  to 
me.  I  was  never  afraid  anywhere.  In  those 
days  there  were  no  "  hoboes  "  or  "  hoodlums " 
roaming  over  the  country.  We  kept  no  locks  on 
our  doors,  or  clasps  on  the  windows.  Everything 
was  open. 

On  the  farm,  as  about  the  house,  I  soon  learned 
everything  that  I  could.  I  learned  to  sow  and 
reap,  to  plant  various  crops,  to  plow,  hoe,  mow, 
harvest.  And  I  had  a  special  garden  of  my  own, 
where  I  raised  a  little  of  everything — onions,  let- 
tuce, cucumbers,  parsnips,  and  other  vegetables. 
I  knew  their  seasons,  the  time  to  plant  them,  and 
when  to  gather  them.  I  was  an  observer  from  the 
cradle.  Little  escaped  my  eyes.  And  I  have 
made  it  a  practise  all  through  my  life  to  master 
everything  as  I  came  to  it. 

Of  books  I  saw  little  in  those  days.  The  only 
ones  we  had  on  the  farm  place,  in  what  was  termed 

26 


MY  BOYHOOD  ON  A  FARM 

by  courtesy  the  "  library,"  were  the  Waverley 
Novels,  Jane  Porter's  Scottish  Chiefs,  Watts's 
Hymns,  and  the  Bible.  There  was,  of  course, 
Zion's  Herald,  the  religious  weekly  paper  from 
Boston  I  have  already  mentioned.  These  were 
our  literature.  I  read  everything  I  could  get  hold 
of,  and  soon  exhausted  the  small  resources  of  the 
farm  library. 

We  were  so  far  from  the  village  and  the  more 
frequented  roads  that  the  only  persons  who  came 
to  our  house  were  peddlers,  who  sold  us  kitchen 
utensils,  such  as  tin  pans  and  buckets,  and  the  lone 
fisherman,  who  would  always  sound  his  horn  a  mile 
away  to  warn  us  of  his  approach. 

The  old  house  had  the  usual  New  England  par- 
lor or  drawing-room,  the  room  of  ceremony,  never 
aired  until  some  guest  came  to  occupy  it,  or  there 
was  a  funeral  or  baptism  in  it.  I  have  never  found 
farmers,  anywhere  in  the  world,  who  had  any  idea 
of  ventilation.  They  slept  in  closed  rooms,  with 
out  any  regard  to  health  or  cleanliness — for  noth- 
ing is  so  cleansing  as  fresh,  pure  air.  There  was 
the  old  fireplace,  with  the  great  andirons  that  could 
sustain  the  weight  of  a  forest  tree,  and  often  did. 
Everything  was  a  century  old,  and  just  that  much 
behind  the  day ;  but  that  was  then  the  case  every- 
where in  New  England  rural  sections. 

And  what  fires  we  used  to  have  in  that  cavern- 
ous chimney!  We  would  place  a  tremendous  log 
on  the  andirons,  and  build  a  fire  about  it.  Soon  it 
4  27 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

would  give  out  a  terrific  heat,  but  it  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  warm  up  the  great  room,  into  which  the 
cold  air  swept  through  a  thousand  cracks  and 
chinks.  Our  faces,  bending  over  the  blazing  log, 
would  be  fairly  blistered,  while  our  backs  would 
be  chilled  with  cold.  The  farther  end  of  the  room 
would  be  icy  cold,  for  drafts  had  free  play.  The 
house  was  poorly  built,  so  far  as  comfort  was  con- 
cerned, although  it  was  stout  enough  to  last  a 
couple  of  centuries.  Not  only  the  winds  but  the 
snow  found  easy  entrance.  If  it  snowed  during 
the  night,  I  would  find  a  streak  of  snow  lying 
athwart  the  room  the  next  morning,  often  putting 
my  bare  feet  in  it  as  I  got  up  in  the  darkness. 

The  ignorance  of  the  Puritan  farmers  of  New 
England  was  the  densest  ignorance  that  I  have 
ever  seen,  even  among  farmers.  They  knew  noth- 
ing, and  seemed  to  care  nothing,  about  the  laws 
of  health  or  economy.  They  were  content  to  live 
exactly  in  the  way  their  ancestors  had  lived  for 
generations.  They  learned  nothing,  and  forgot 
nothing — like  the  Bourbons. 

This  suggests  to  me  the  fact  that  the  climate 
of  New  England  has  changed  tremendously  since 
I  was  a  boy.  Most  old  people  say  something  like 
this.  When  I  was  a  boy  there  was  snow  every 
winter  and  all  winter.  Now  there  is  comparatively 
little  snow.  Then  it  used  to  begin  in  November, 
and  we  were  practically  shut  in  on  our  farms, 
often  even  in  our  houses,  for  the  winter.    For  six 

28 


MY  BOYHOOD   ON  A  FARM 

months  the  snow  covered  the  earth.  When  we 
wanted  to  get  out,  we  had  to  break  our  way  out 
with  an  ox-sled.  The  old  climate  of  New  England 
has  gone. 

When  I  was  ten  years  old  I  began  taking 
"  truck  "  to  the  old  Quincy  market  in  Boston.  It 
was  ten  miles  away,  but  I  soon  got  accustomed  to 
going  there  alone  and  selling  out  the  farm  prod- 
uce and  vegetables.  I  had  to  get  up  at  four  o'clock 
in  the  mornings,  in  order  to  look  after  the  horse 
and  to  harness  him.  He  was  called  "  Old  Tom," 
and  was  a  faithful,  trustworthy  animal. 

I  would  arrive  at  the  market  before  dawn,  and 
would  back  the  wagon  up  against  the  market- 
house  and  wait  for  the  light.  I  fed  the  horse,  and 
now  and  then,  if  the  weather  was  particularly  bad, 
I  would  put  him  in  a  stable  for  a  few  hours,  at  a 
cost  of  fifty  cents,  and  feed  him  on  oats. 

After  closing  out  the  "  truck,"  I  would  drive 
to  Cambridgeport,  where  I  bought  the  groceries 
and  other  supplies  for  the  farm.  My  grandmother 
trusted  all  this  to  me.  After  this  I  got  a  luncheon, 
which  cost  me  a  "  shilling  cut,"  as  it  was  called 
then — twelve  and  a  half  cents.  Then  I  would  drive 
home,  and  could  give  to  grandmother  a  full  and 
itemized  account  of  everything,  without  having 
set  down  a  word  or  a  figure  on  paper.  This  went 
on  for  two  or  three  vears. 

For  amusement,  as  I  have  said,  I  had  the  uni- 
versal atmosphere,  and  I  had  the  great  old  farm, 

29 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

and  the  forest  and  the  fields.  I  had  them  all  to 
myself.  I  roamed  over  them,  and  through  them, 
at  will.  I  used  to  set  box-traps  for  rabbits  and 
snares  for  partridges.  I  had  a  little  gun,  also,  and 
a  little  dog,  with  which  I  would  hunt  rabbits  or 
squirrels.  The  dog  I  have  always  regarded  with 
wonder.  He  could  see  a  gray  squirrel  at  the  top 
of  a  tree  half  a  mile  away.  Some  persons  think 
he  smelled  the  squirrel,  but  I  am  certain  he  saw  it. 
And  he  was  only  a  mongrel,  at  that.  He  would 
lead  me  to  a  tree,  and  I  would  shoot  the  squirrel. 
The  little  dog — a  sort  of  fox  terrier — was  the  only 
real  friend  I  ever  had.  He  was  my  constant  com- 
panion, whenever  I  could  get  to  him  or  he  to  me. 
In  the  winter  I  used  him  as  a  warming-pan.  The 
old  farmhouse  was  cold — very  cold.  We  had  no 
means  of  heating  it.  At  night  I  would  find  the 
sheets  of  my  bed  as  cold  as  an  ice-floe.  Then  I 
would  send  my  little  dog  down  under  the  covering, 
and  he  would  stay  there  until  he  had  warmed  up 
the  bed. 

Then  there  was  pigeon-netting.  This  is  an  old 
sport  that  has,  I  suppose,  died  out  in  New  Eng- 
land. In  my  boyhood,  however,  great  flocks  of 
wild  pigeons  used  to  come  to  the  New  England 
woods  and  forests.  The  device  for  catching  large 
numbers  of  them  by  netting  was  quite  primitive, 
but  effective. 

My  uncle  Francis  (for  whom  I  was  named), 
whom  I  used  to  help  net  pigeons,  was  quite  a 

30 


MY  BOYHOOD   ON  A  FAKM 

sportsman.  He  was  fond  of  fishing,  and  he  was 
a  great  hand  at  the  nets.  We  had  two  places  for 
spreading  the  nets,  one  in  the  "  vineyard  "  and  the 
other  in  a  "burnt-hill"  in  the  forest.  All  the 
foliage  was  stripped  from  several  trees  that  were 
close  together.  Then  we  would  arrange  the  net  so 
it  could  be  drawn  together  at  the  right  time,  spread 
it  over  the  ground,  and  bait  it.  Then  we  would 
plant  our  stool-pigeons.  As  soon  as  we  saw  a 
flock  of  pigeons  approaching  we  would  stir  the 
stool-pigeons  by  pulling  on  a  string  to  which 
they  were  attached.  They  would  move  about,  as 
if  they  were  really  alive.  The  pigeons  would 
circle  about  the  spot,  attracted  by  the  fluttering 
stool-pigeons,  and  then  they  would  catch  sight  of 
the  grain  and  come  down.  "When  the  net  was 
filled  with  them,  we  would  draw  the  strings, 
and  sometimes  we  caught  as  many  as  a  hun- 
dred at  a  time.  They  were  then  killed  and 
sold. 

By  such  work  as  this  I  was  earning  my  own 
support.  This  is  a  sample  of  my  life  on  the  farm 
from  four  to  ten  years.  I  wore  one  suit  of  clothes 
a  year,  and  the  suit  cost  originally  not  more  than 
$10,  and  was  made  at  home.  I  had  some  little 
pocket-money  occasionally.  I  was  permitted  to 
sell  the  rabbits  and  partridges,  the  spoil  of  my 
traps  and  gun.  These  small  resources  usually 
enabled  me  to  keep  a  few  cents — sometimes  a  few 
dollars — in  my  pockets. 

31 


MY  LIFE  IN  MAKY  STATES 

There  is  nothing  more  extravagant  and  truly; 
wasteful  than  a  boy  with  a  few  dollars  in  his  pock- 
ets. He  can  throw  away  his  slender  fortune  with 
magnificent  bravado.  One  summer  I  had  accumu- 
lated $17,  and,  naturally,  I  was  itching  to  spend  it. 
The  hired  man  was  going  up  to  Concord  to  help 
celebrate  "  Cornwallis  Day"  (October  19),  and  I 
got  consent  to  accompany  him.  There  was  to  be 
a  fair,  and  I  took  my  money  with  me — ^very 
stupidly.  The  memory  of  it  was  soon  all  that  re- 
mained. 

My  first  step  in  extravagance  was  the  purchase 
of  a  bunch  of  firecrackers.  It  cost  me,  apparently, 
ten  cents ;  but  actually  it  was  my  financial  undoing, 
and  cost  me  $17.  I  began  to  pop  the  crackers,  and 
soon  had  a  crowd  of  boys  around  me.  They  were 
envious  of  me.  They  didn't  have  money  to  buy 
crackers.  I  popped  away  with  great  noncha- 
lance, but  husbanding  my  ammunition  and  pop- 
ping only  a  single  cracker  at  a  time.  This  was 
strategy  of  a  high  order;  but  I  could  not  keep  it 
up.  I  didn't  know  the  resourcefulness  of  boy-na- 
ture. Presently,  I  heard  a  boy  whisper  just  be- 
hind me,  to  one  of  his  companions :  "  Just  wait  a 
minute,  and  you  will  see  him  touch  off  the  whole 
pack ! " 

This  was  irresistible.  My  blood  was  fired  with 
ambition.  I  fired  the  whole  bunch  at  once!  The 
hurrahs  and  yells  were  tremendous,  and  set  me 
wild.    I   went   and   bought   another   bunch,   and 

32 


MY  BOYHOOD  ON  A  FARM 

set  it  all  off  at  one  time,  as  if  firecrackers  were  no 
new  thing  to  me.  But  my  recklessness  was  not 
to  stop  there.  I  had  been  carried  off  my  feet  by 
the  hurrah,  as  many  an  older  person  has  been 
before. 

Our  hired  man  came  to  me  and  said  that  a  very 
pretty  thing  was  going  on  near  by.  I  went  with 
him,  and  saw  a  man  playing  a  game  with  three 
thimbles,  a  pea,  and  a  green  cushion.  The  game 
was  to  guess  under  which  of  the  thimbles  the  pea 
was  concealed.  The  hired  man  thought  he  knew 
and  insisted  that  he  knew,  and  the  gamester  want- 
ed to  bet  him  that  he  didn't.  After  a  while  another 
man  came  up  and  tried  his  hand  at  guessing.  He 
also  missed.  The  loss  of  his  money  made  him  in- 
dignant, and  he  took  up  another  of  the  thimbles. 
The  pea  was  not  there. 

The  thing  then  seemed  so  easy  to  our  hired 
man  that  he  asked  to  try  a  dollar  on  the  game. 
Then  the  irate  man  who  had  lost  his  money  took 
up  the  other  thimble  and  brushed  the  pea  off  the 
cushion.  Our  hired  man,  who  let  nothing  that  was 
going  on  about  the  green  cushion  escape  his 
sight,  saw  the  pea  swept  away,  and  eagerly  bet 
the  dealer  that  there  was  no  pea  there  at  all.  The 
dealer  took  him  up,  and  lifted  the  thimble,  and  lo ! 
there  was  the  pea.  This  did  not  satisfy  the  hired 
man,  who  kept  on  betting,  and  losing  until  he  had 
no  money  left.  Thus  our  savings  went  up  in 
powder  smoke  and  in  guesses  at  the  whereabouts 

33 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 

of  a  fleeting  pea.    I  did  not  gamble  then,  nor  have 
I  gambled  since. 

But  the  firecracker  day  had  its  lessons  for  me. 
It  taught  me  some  things  about  money  and  its 
power,  and  it  got  me  interested  in  Cornwallis.  I 
began  to  read  American  history. 


34 


CHAPTER   IV 

SCHOOLDAYS  AND   A   START  IN   LIFE 
1840-1844 

I  WENT  to  school,  of  course,  for  this  was  a  part 
of  the  serious  business  of  New  England  life.  Our 
schoolhouse  was  two  and  a  half  miles  distant,  and 
the  path  to  it  lay  across  half  a  dozen  farms  and 
ran  through  the  forest  for  a  mile.  There  I  was 
taught  the  "  three  R's,"  and  nothing  else.  There 
was  no  thought  of  Latin  or  Greek,  and,  except  the 
little  'rithmetic,  no  mathematics.  I  learned  to 
cipher,  read,  and  write;  but  I  learned  these  rudi- 
mentary branches  very  rapidly.  At  night,  in  the 
old  farmhouse,  my  aunts  would  go  over  the  tasks 
of  the  day  with  me. 

Our  principal  diversions  were  in  the  winter, 
when  we  had  delightful  sleighing  parties.  The 
school-children  always  had  one  great  picnic. 
There  would  be  a  six-horse  sleigh,  and  the  teacher 
would  be  in  charge  of  the  party.  We  visited  the 
surrounding  towns,  and  it  was  a  great  affair  to 
us.  We  looked  forward  to  it  from  the  very  com- 
mencement of  the  school  year.     On  examination 

35 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

day,  at  the  close  of  the  term,  we  children  had  to 
clean  the  schoolhouse.  There  was  no  janitor,  as 
now.  But  we  enjoyed  the  work,  and  took  a  cer- 
tain childish  pride  in  it. 

I  remember  that  one  of  my  earliest  ambitions 
was  gratified  at  that  period  when  I  was  chosen 
leader  of  the  school.  I  stood  at  the  head  of  every- 
thing. And  it  was  no  idle  compliment.  Boys  are 
not,  like  their  elders,  influenced  by  envy  or  jeal- 
ousy. They  invariably  try  to  select  the  best 
"  man  "  among  them  for  their  leader.  Jealousies, 
envy,  and  heart-burnings  come  afterward. 

Reading  the  account  of  the  collision  between 
the  Priscilla  and  the  Powhatan  in  the  Sound  off 
Newport,  this  year,  and  the  peril  that  threat- 
ened five  hundred  passengers,  there  came  to  my 
mind  the  recollection  of  a  catastrophe  that  hap- 
pened sixty-two  years  ago,  and  how  the  tidings 
were  brought  to  me.  I  can  live  over  again  the 
horror  of  that  day.  I  recall  that  it  was  in  Jan- 
uary, '40. 

It  was  a  stormy,  bitter  day,  and  I  was  in  the 
little  schoolhouse  at  Pond  End,  two  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  farm.  The  snow  had  been  falling 
a  long  while,  and  everything  was  covered  with  it. 
As  the  day  advanced,  and  the  snow  piled  deeper 
and  ever  deeper  about  the  little  house,  and  cov- 
ered the  forests  and  fields  with  a  thicker  blanket 
of  white,  we  began  to  grow  anxious.  Now  and  then 
a  sleigh  would  drive  up  through  the  drifting,  fly- 

36 


SCHOOLDAYS  AND  A  START  IN  LIFE 

ing  snow,  and  the  father  and  mother  of  some  child 
in  the  school  would  come  in  and  take  away  the 
little  boy  or  girl  and  disappear  in  the  storm.  I 
began  to  think,  with  dread,  of  how  I,  a  little  fellow, 
would  be  able  to  find  my  way  home  through  the 
blinding  snow,  when  suddenly  there  came  a  tap 
on  the  door.  The  teacher  went  to  the  door,  and 
called  to  me :  "  George,  your  uncle  Emery  Bemis 
has  just  arrived  from  Boston  in  his  sleigh,  and 
wants  to  take  you  home  with  him." 

When  I  got  into  the  sleigh  he  seemed  to  be 
very  sad.  He  sat  quiet  for  some  little  time,  and 
then  turned  to  me  and  said :  "  George,  I  have  some 
terrible  news  for  your  grandmother.  She  is  at  the 
farmhouse  now,  waiting  to  see  her  youngest 
daughter,  your  aunt  Alice.  Your  grandmother 
expects  me  to  bring  her.  She  was  coming  from 
New  York  on  the  steamer  Lexington,  with  the  dead 
body  of  her  husband  [and  his  brother  and  father], 
which  she  wanted  to  bury  in  the  family  graveyard. 
There  were  three  hundred  passengers  on  the  ship. 
The  Lexington  was  wrecked  and  burned  in  the 
Sound,  and  three  hundred  persons  were  lost — 
burned  or  drowned.  Your  aunt  was  lost.  Only 
five  passengers  were  saved." 

Such  were  the  horrible  tidings  my  uncle  was 
bearing  to  my  grandmother  and  my  aunts,  instead 
of  the  living  presence  they  were  expecting.  This 
incident  left  an  ineradicable  impression  upon  my 
mind.    There  was  one  peculiar  thing  about  the  ac- 

37    . 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY  STATES 

cident  of  the  Lexington  that  struck  me  at  the  time 
as  being  weird  and  unforgettable.  When  the  ship 
went  to  pieces  the  pilot-house  was  shattered,  and 
a  portion  of  it  floated  away  and  lodged  against  the 
rocks  near  the  shore.  The  bell  itself  was  unin- 
jured, and  still  swung  from  its  hangings,  and  there 
it  remained,  clanging  dolorously  in  every  wind. 
It  seemed  to  my  boyish  fancy  to  be  tolling  per- 
petually for  the  dead  of  the  Lexington. 

Years  afterward,  while  making  a  speech  in  a 
political  campaign,  I  made  use  of  this  incident.  I 
said  the  Democratic  party  of  the  day  was  adrift 
from  its  ancient  moorings,  and  was  always  calling 
up  something  of  the  remote  past.  It  was  like  the 
bell  of  the  Lexington,  caught  upon  the  rocks  that 
had  wrecked  the  ship  and  tolling  forever  for  the 
dead. 

George  Eipley,  who  was  the  leader  at  Brook 
Farm  and,  long  afterward,  was  associated  with 
Charles  A.  Dana  in  the  preparation  of  the  Ameri- 
can Cyclopedia,  was  at  one  time  my  school-teacher 
on  Waltham  Plains.  General  Nathaniel  P.  Banks, 
who  was  a  few  years  older  than  I,  was  chairman 
of  our  library  committee.  We  used  to  have  lec- 
tures in  Rumford  Hall.  (By  the  way,  this  hall 
was  named  for  Count  Rumford,  whom  most  per- 
sons take  to  have  been  a  German  or  other  for- 
eigner, on  account  of  his  foreign  title ;  but  he  was 
an  American.)  The  lecture  night  was  always  a 
great  event  in  Waltham.    One  day  a  man  came  to 

38 


SCHOOLDAYS  AND  A  START  IN  LIFE 

me  and  said,  "  Here  is  a  remarkable  letter."    He 
read  it  to  me,  and  it  was  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Library  Committee,  Waltham: 

"  I  will  come  to  lecture  for  $5  for  myself,  but 
ask  you  for  four  quarts  of  oats  for  my  horse. 

"  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson." 

The  lecture  that  Mr.  Emerson  delivered  for 
us  boys  of  the  library  committee  in  Waltham  was 
entitled  "  Nature."  We  paid  him  $5  and  four 
quarts  of  oats  for  it.  He  delivered  it  many  times 
afterward,  when  his  name  was  on  every  lip  in  the 
civilized  world,  and  he  received  $150  to  $500  for 
each  delivery.  He  was  just  as  great  then,  in  that 
hour  in  the  little  old  town  of  Waltham ;  it  was  the 
same  lecture,  with  the  same  exquisite  thought  and 
marvelous  wisdom ;  but  it  took  years  for  the  world 
to  recognize  the  greatness  and  the  beauty  and  the 
wisdom  of  him,  and  to  value  them  at  their  higher 
worth.  The  world  paid  for  the  name,  not  for  the 
lecture  or  the  truth  and  beauty. 

During  this  period  I  attended  school  for  three 
months  every  summer.  My  grandparents  wanted 
to  make  a  clergj^man  of  me.  But  that  sort  of 
thing  was  not  in  me.  I  was  sent  up  to  Mr.  Leon- 
ard Frost,  at  Framingham,  ten  miles  distant,  and 
lived  with  him.  Certainly  my  board  could  not 
have  been  more  than  $2  a  week,  and  the  tuition 
amounted  to  scarcely  anything.    I  was  with  Mr. 

39 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Frost  just  three  months,  at  a  total  expenditure  for 
educational  purposes  of  about  $25!  This  consti- 
tuted my  college  education.  I  was  then  fourteen 
years  old;  and  this  is  all  the  school  education  I 
have  ever  had. 

The  chief  game  we  played  when  I  was  a  boy 
was  what  we  called  "  round  ball,"  which  has  now 
developed  into  the  national  game  of  baseball.  I 
was  quite  an  adept  at  the  game,  as  I  took  great  in- 
terest always  in  all  sports  and  easily  excelled  in 
them.  I  had  also  a  fancy  for  chemistry,  and  my 
first  experiment  was  the  result  of  sitting  down 
upon  a  bottle  of  chemicals.  It  cost  me  certain  por- 
tions of  my  clothing,  and  made  a  lasting  impres- 
sion upon  me.  It  effectually  put  an  end  to  my 
desire  to  study  chemistry  further. 

About  this  time  a  sweeping  change  came 
in  my  life.  One  day  I  happened  to  overhear  my 
aunts  talking  about  my  future.  The  good  ladies 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  a  clergyman's  life 
was  not  the  life  for  me ;  so  they  were  debating  the 
question  of  sending  me  out  to  learn  a  trade.  They 
said  it  was  evident  that  I  would  not  be  a  clergy- 
man, a  doctor,  or  a  lawyer ;  so  I  must  be  a  black- 
smith, or  a  carpenter,  or  a  mason.  Now  I  did  not 
want  to  be  any  of  these  things. 

As  soon  as  I  got  an  opportunity  I  told  my  aunts 
that  I  did  not  intend  to  be  a  carpenter,  or  a  mason, 
or  a  blacksmith.  I  said  I  was  going  down  to  Bos- 
ton— not  to  the  market,  but  to  get  a  position  some- 

40 


SCHOOLDAYS  AND  A  START  IN  LIFE 

where.  They  were  astounded.  They  could  not  be- 
lieve their  ears.    But  I  went. 

The  city  seemed  bigger  than  ever,  now  that  I 
had  to  face  it  and  conquer  it,  or  have  it  conquer 
me.  But  I  was  not  beaten  before  the  fight.  I  be- 
gan walking  through  the  streets  with  as  bold  a 
heart  as  I  could  summon,  and  kept  searching  the 
windows  and  doors  for  any  sign  of  "  Boy  wanted." 
I  had  seen  such  notices  pasted  up  in  windows  when 
I  came  into  the  town  on  marketing  trips. 

Finally  I  saw  such  a  sign  on  a  drug-store  in 
Washington  Street,  and  walked  in.  I  told  the 
druggist  I  should  like  to  go  to  work.  He  offered 
me  my  board  and  lodging  for  looking  after  the 
place.  I  asked  him  what  sort  of  clothes  he  wanted 
me  to  wear,  and  he  replied  that  the  suit  I  had  on 
— my  Sunday  clothes — would  do  for  every  day. 
I  was  quite  happy  and  started  to  work. 

The  first  night  I  slept  in  the  same  building 
with  the  store,  but  above  it.  About  one  o'clock  in 
the  morning  the  bell  rang.  Some  one  wanted  the 
doctor  at  once.  I  said  I  wasn't  a  doctor,  and  that 
the  doctor  was  not  there.  The  messenger  ran  off. 
This  was  bad  enough,  to  be  routed  up  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  night  that  way.  The  next  day  the  drug- 
gist went  away  from  the  store  on  some  business. 
I  sampled  everything  edible  in  the  place.  I  tried 
the  different  kinds  of  candy,  and  sirups,  and  then 
went  out  and  bought  some  lemonade  and  a  dozen 
raw  oysters.    The  result  may  be  imagined.    After 

41 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

a  few  minutes  of  Mont  Pelee,  I  decided  that  I  had 
had  enough  of  the  drug  business.  I  told  the  drug- 
gist my  decision,  shut  the  door,  and  left  the  store, 
a  disappointed  and  lonely  little  fellow. 

I  hesitated  as  to  my  next  step.  But  there  was 
the  old  farmhouse — and  it  invited  me  very  tender- 
ly just  then  to  return.  I  was  not  conquered  yet,  but 
would  fight  on.  I  turned,  as  if  by  instinct,  toward 
Cambridgeport,  the  scene  of  my  traffickings  with 
the  grocer.  My  uncle  Clarke  lived  there,  the 
uncle  that  had  brought  me  on  from  New  Orleans ; 
but  I  could  not  make  up  my  mind  to  go  to  him, 
either.  The  family  would  laugh  at  me.  No!  I 
would  get  another  place — but  it  would  not  be  in  a 
drug-store ! 

Then  I  had  an  inspiration.  There  was  the 
grocer  named  Holmes !  Why  not  try  him  ?  I  would. 
So  I  went  to  the  store  of  Joseph  A.  Holmes,  at 
the  corner  of  Main  Street  and  Brighton  Road.  To 
my  eager  inquiry,  Mr.  Holmes  said :  "  You  have 
come  just  in  time.  We  want  a  boy."  Then  he 
asked  me  what  wages  I  wanted.  "  Just  enough  to 
live  on,"  I  said.  "  You  can  live  with  us,"  he  said ; 
"  and  I  will  give  you  one  dollar  a  week."  That 
meant  $50  a  year.  It  was  a  great  sum  to  me.  I 
began  to  work  at  once. 

This  was  the  winter  of  *43-'44,  and  I  was 
fourteen.  My  work  was  to  drive  the  grocery 
wagon  up  to  Old  Cambridgeport,  take  orders,  and 
fill  them.    I  had  to  get  up  at  four  o'clock  in  the 

42 


SCHOOLDAYS  AND  A  START  IN  LIFE 

morning  to  look  after  the  horse,  just  as  I  had  done 
on  the  farm,  and  to  get  everything  ready  for  the 
trip.  I  had  the  orders  of  the  day  before  to  fill  and 
to  deliver  at  the  college.  Besides,  I  had  to  work  in 
the  store  after  I  came  back  from  Old  Cambridge- 
port.  In  the  evening  I  had  to  look  after  the  lamps, 
sweep  out,  put  up  the  shutters,  and  do  numberless 
other  little  things  about  the  store.  The  store  was 
closed  at  ten  o'clock  at  night.  Then  I  would  put 
out  the  lights,  which  were  old-fashioned  oil  lamps. 

It  was  a  long  day  for  a  boy — or  for  a  man.  I 
worked  eighteen  hours  every  day.  And  the  labor- 
ers in  the  Pennsylvania  coal-mines  are  now  strik- 
ing for  an  eight-hour  day!  I  had  six  hours  of 
night  in  which  to  go  to  bed  and  to  find  what  sleep 
I  could.  This  life  continued  for  about  two  years. 
In  that  time  I  had  learned  to  do  almost  everything 
that  was  to  be  done  about  a  grocery  store.  I  had 
really  learned  this  in  the  first  six  months. 

One  of  my  many  little  duties  was  to  make  paper 
bags.  I  had  to  cut  the  paper  and  paste  it  together. 
Another  task  was  to  take  a  hogshead  of  hams,  put 
each  ham  in  bagging,  and  sew  it  up.  Then  I  had 
to  whitewash  each  particular  ham.  That  was  a 
nice  business!  It  went  against  my  nature  more 
than  any  other  part  of  my  manifold  labors  in  the 
store. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  a  Baptist  deacon,  but  the  only 
thing  about  him  to  which  my  youthful  taste  ob- 
jected was  that  he  chewed  tobacco  all  the  time. 
-    5  43 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Yes,  there  was  another  objection.  He  insisted 
upon  my  joining  the  Bible  class  in  his  Sunday- 
school.  This  I  would  not  do.  I  could  not  explain 
it  all  to  him;  but  the  Santa  Claus  matter  had  not 
yet  worn  out  of  my  mind. 

One  day  at  the  grocery  store,  Mr.  Holmes 
brought  in  an  elderly  gentleman  and  said  to  me: 
**  George,  I  want  you  to  take  this  gentleman " 
(naming  him)  "  up  to  the  college,  and  walk  about 
with  him."  The  gentleman  seemed  to  me  to  be 
about  sixty  years  old.  Mr.  Holmes  cautioned  me 
about  keeping  him  out  of  any  danger,  as  he  was 
not  very  well.  "  Don't  talk  to  him,"  he  said  to  me, 
"  unless  he  wants  to  talk  to  you." 

The  thing  was  like  a  holiday  to  me.  I  walked 
with  him  up  to  the  college,  and  all  around,  as  much 
as  he  wanted  to;  and  it  never  occurred  to  me,  in 
all  the  days  I  was  with  him  in  this  way,  to  find  out 
who  he  was,  or  to  think  about  it  at  all. 

He  was  John  Jacob  Astor,  Jr.,  eldest  son  of 
the  founder  of  the  great  house  of  the  Astors.  He 
was  practically  an  invalid.  He  was  then  in  charge 
of  a  Mr.  Dowse,  who  generally  left  him  to  the  care 
of  Mr.  Holmes,  and  who,  in  turn,  left  him  to  me. 
After  this,  he  came  to  New  York,  where  he  was 
taken  in  charge  by  his  brother,  William  B.  Astor. 


44 


CHAPTER  V. 

EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  METHODISM 

Before  I  get  away  from  my  boyhood  days,  I 
want  to  say  something  about  the  manner  of  my 
rearing  in  the  bosom  of  old  New  England  Meth- 
odism. I  was  reared  in  the  strictest  ways  of  mo- 
rality, in  accordance  with  the  old  system.  Grand- 
mother told  me  that  I  must  not  swear,  must  not 
drink  intoxicating  liquors,  must  not  lie,  must  not 
use  tobacco  in  any  form.  It  seemed  to  me  she  was 
stretching  out  the  moral  law  a  little,  and  that  there 
were  fifteen,  instead  of  ten,  commandments,  in  the 
religious  scheme  of  Methodism.  And  each  com- 
mandment was  held  up  to  me  as  an  unfailing  pre- 
cept that  would  make  a  man  of  me.  I  used  to  say 
to  myself  that  I  would  be  fifteen  times  a  man,  as 
I  intended  to  keep  them  all. 

But  while  this  training  was  proceeding,  and  I 
was  being  warned  against  drinking  and  using  to- 
bacco, there  were  some  strange  inconsistencies 
going  on  side  by  side  with  the  precepts.  My  old 
grandmother  smoked  what  was  known  as  "  nigger- 
head"  tobacco,  in  a  little  clay  pipe.     The  pipes 

45 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

cost  about  a  cent  apiece.  I  used  to  cut  up  this  to- 
bacco for  her.  But  as  she  smoked,  she  lost  no 
opportunity  of  impressing  upon  me  the  dreadful- 
ness  of  the  tobacco  habit. 

I  made  bold  one  day  to  ask  her  why  it  was  that 
she  smoked,  and  yet  told  me  not  to  smoke.  She 
touched  herself  in  the  right  side,  and  said,  "  The 
doctor  tells  me  to  smoke  for  some  trouble  here." 
But  she  was  a  very  lovely  old  lady,  and  I  would 
never  write  or  speak  a  word  that  could  harm  the 
dear  memory  of  the  mother  of  my  mother. 

At  this  time,  also,  her  father  was  living.  I  re- 
member the  old  gentleman  now,  in  his  red  cap,  then 
a  wonder  to  me,  but  which  afterward  became  very 
familiar  in  Constantinople  and  the  East  as  the 
Turkish  fez.  He  was  very  aged,  being  then  well 
along  in  the  eighties.  Every  night  I  used  to  go  up 
to  his  room  and  make  him  a  toddy.  He  always 
wanted  me  to  mix  this  drink  for  him,  as  I  had 
learned  to  make  it  exactly  to  his  taste.  He  had  the 
rare  consistency  never  to  say  anything  to  me  about 
the  immorality  of  drinking,  nor  did  I  ever  speak 
to  him  about  the  matter.  But  one  day  I  asked  my 
grandmother  about  this  "  toddy."  She  touched 
her  left  side,  and  said,  "  It  is  for  something 
here." 

I  could  not  understand  it,  but  here  were  mys- 
terious "  somethings  "  in  my  grandmother's  right 
side,  and  in  her  father's  left  side,  that  nullified 
the  Methodist  religious  system  and  set  at  naught 

46 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  METHODISM 


the  additional  commandments,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
drink,"  and  "  Thou  shalt  not  smoke." 

But  the  scheme  of  morality  proved  a  good  thing 
for  me,  and  served  to  guide  me  aright  in  all  my 
wanderings  about  the  world  and  up  and  down  in  it. 
I  think  it  very  good  testimony  to  the  soundness 
and  virtue  of  my  moral  training  that  I  have  wan- 
dered around  the  world  four  times,  have  lived  in 
every  manner  known  to  man,  have  been  thrown 
with  the  most  dissolute  and  the  most  reckless  of 
mankind,  and  have  passed  through  almost  every 
vicissitude  of  fortune,  and  have  never  tasted  a 
drop  of  intoxicating  liquor,  and  have  never 
smoked.  I  have  kept  all  of  the  commandments — 
those  of  Sinai  and  those  of  the  Methodists. 

In  my  period  of  wealth  and  prosperity,  I  have 
entertained  thousands  of  men,  have  seen  thousands 
drinking  and  drunken  at  my  table — and  under  it; 
but  I  never  touched  a  drop  of  my  own  wine  or  of 
the  wine  of  others.  I  have  paid  a  great  deal  of 
money  for  the  purchase  of  all  sorts  of  tobacco, 
and  for  all  sorts  of  pipes — narghiles,  hookas,  chi- 
bouks— as  presents  for  others ;  but  never  touched 
tobacco  myself  in  any  way.  I  have  been  in  every 
rat-hole  of  the  world — but  I  never  touched  the 
rats.  It  is  for  these  reasons  that  I  am  seventy- 
three  years  young,  and  am  hale  and  strong  to-day, 
and  living  my  life  over  again  like  a  youth  once 
more. 

Years  afterward,  when  I  was  lecturing,  my 

47 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

cousin,  George  Pickering  Bemis,  ex-Mayor  of  Oma- 
ha, and  my  aunt  Abbie  and  my  cousin  Abbie  at- 
tended the  one  I  delivered  in  Omaha,  and  all  of 
them  felt  a  little  hurt  by  my  allusions  to  the  old 
Methodists,  and  to  my  grandmother  and  her  father. 
Bemis  wrote  to  me  that  they  were  horrified.  But 
they  forgot  that  what  I  said  of  the  Methodists 
and  of  my  ancestors  was  in  their  praise.  I  was  not 
ridiculing  them,  but  extolling  them.  I  told  of  these 
incidents  of  my  childhood,  because  I  was  speaking 
of  my  childhood,  and  these  were  facts.  One  of 
the  strictest  commandments  of  old  Methodism  was 
to  tell  the  truth.  They  were  not  satisfied  with  the 
mild  negative  of  the  Sinaitic  commandment,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  lie."  They  added  a  positive  decree, 
"  Thou  shalt  speak  the  truth."  That  was  all  I  was 
doing.  I  was  telling  the  truth  about  my  childhood 
and  boyhood.  I  have  never  spoken  anything  but 
the  truth  in  all  my  life.  This,  too,  I  owe  to  the 
early  training  in  Methodist  virtues  and  precepts, 
and  to  the  example  and  counsel  of  my  dear  old 
grandmother. 

I  could  not  join  the  Bible  class,  at  the  urgent 
request  of  the  grocer,  Mr.  Holmes,  because  I  could 
not  see  the  necessity  of  God,  and  no  one  could  ever 
explain  to  me  the  reason  why  there  should  be,  or 
is,  a  God.  I  could  never  recognize  the  necessity. 
Morality  and.  ethics  I  could  see  the  necessity 
of,  and  the  high  and  authoritative  reason  for;  but 
religion  never  appealed  to  my  intelligence  or  to 

48 


EAKLY  NEW  ENGLAND  METHODISM 


my  emotions.  The  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son  only 
taught  me  that  to  be  a  Christian  one  must  do  some- 
thing to  be  forgiven  for,  to  repent  of ;  and  I  could 
not  see  the  strength  of  such  an  argument.  The 
plain  and  sound  "  ethics  "  of  Methodism,  outside 
of  "  faith  "  and  "  belief,"  always  seemed  to  me  to 
be  higher  and  better  than  this. 

I  feel  that  in  an  autobiography  I  should  say 
this  much  about  my  moral  creed  and  principles. 
Later  in  life  the  Bible  got  me  into  much  trouble, 
involved  me  in  persecutions,  and  finally  landed  me 
in  jail — all  of  which  I  shall  refer  to  in  due  season. 

Children  are  born  savages  and  cheats.  It  is 
only  training  that  makes  true  and  honest  men  and 
women  of  them.  When  a  child  of  five  and  six,  I 
slept  with  my  aunt  Alice,  the  one  who  was  after- 
ward lost  on  the  Lexington.  One  night  I  saw  a 
fourpence  in  her  pocket-book.  When  I  saw  that 
she  was  asleep,  I  got  up  quietly,  went  to  her  pock- 
et-book where  it  lay  on  the  table  and  took  the  four- 
pence  out  of  it.  But  I  could  not  retain  it.  It 
seared  into  my  conscience.  Before  she  woke  up, 
I  went  as  quietly  back  to  the  purse  and  placed  the 
fourpence  exactly  where  I  had  found  it.  My  Meth- 
odist training  saved  me. 

On  another  occasion,  my  grandmother  took  me 
to  Watertown  to  buy  me  a  suit  of  clothes.  In  the 
store  T  noticed,  while  my  grandmother  was  talking 
with  the  clerk,  a  lovely  knife  in  the  show-case.  I 
wanted  it.    All  my  boyish  instincts  went  out  to 

49 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

that  knife.  I  had  never  had  a  knife,  and  was  hun- 
gry for  one.  I  looked  around,  with  all  the  inherit- 
ed cunning  of  savage  and  barbarian  and  predatory 
ancestors  in  a  thousand  forests  and  for  a  hundred 
centuries.  No  one  was  observing  me.  Quietly, 
stealthily,  I  went  to  the  case.  I  lifted  the  top, 
took  the  beautiful  knife,  and  put  it  in  my  pocket. 
It  was  done.  I  had  the  knife,  and  no  one  would 
ever  be  any  wiser.  I  was  safe  with  my  spoil.  But 
again  my  Methodist-drilled  conscience  awoke.  It 
made  me  go  back  to  the  show-case  and  replace  the 
stolen  knife.    I  actually  felt  better — for  a  time. 

Then  the  appeal  of  nature  came  back  stronger 
than  before.  I  longed  for  the  knife.  There  was 
no  resisting  the  predatory  impulse.  Again  I  stole 
behind  the  counter,  opened  the  case,  took  out  the 
knife,  and  placed  it  securely  in  my  pocket.  Again 
it  had  been  done  without  chance  of  detection.  But 
again  my  Methodist-made  conscience  came  to  the 
fore.  Again  it  saved  me  from  being  a  thief.  I 
went  back  to  the  case,  and  put  the  knife  in  its  place, 
but  with  great  reluctance.  Still  a  third  time  I  took 
the  knife  from  the  case  and  secreted  it  in  my 
pocket,  and  again  the  Methodist  conscience  proved 
stronger  than  human  nature,  and  I  restored  the 
treasure  to  its  proper  place.  I  was  finally  able  to 
leave  the  store  without  the  knife,  and  with  a  clean 
conscience. 

These  are  the  only  instances  when  I  started  to 
do  an  evil  thing,  and  in  both  of  them  I  did  not 

50 


EARLY  NEW  ENGLAND  METHODISM 

go  the  full  length,  but  restored  the  property  I 
coveted.  Since  that  time,  and  with  these  excep- 
tions, for  the  entire  period  of  my  hfe  I  have  never 
cheated,  stolen,  or  lied.  And  yet  I  have  been  in 
fifteen  jails.     For  what! 

When  I  was  clerk  in  Mr.  Holmes's  grocery 
store  I  was  in  charge  of  the  money-drawer.  I  re- 
ceived no  salary  from  Mr.  Holmes,  but  took  out 
the  $1  a  week  that  I  was  allowed,  and  kept  an  ac- 
count of  it.  I  was  trusted,  and  did  not  betray  in 
the  slightest  degree  this  trust  and  confidence  of 
my  employer.  Every  cent  that  I  took  out  of,  or 
put  into  the  cash-drawer  was  entered  upon  my  ac- 
count-book, and  I  was  ready  at  any  and  all  times 
to  show  exactly  how  my  account  stood  with  the 
store. 


51 


CHAPTER  VI 

IN  A   SHIPPING   HOUSE   IN   BOSTON 

1844-1850 

The  next  change  in  my  life,  and  the  real  begin- 
ning of  my  career  as  a  business  man,  was  soon  to 
come.  I  had  got  as  much  out  of  the  grocery  store 
as  it  could  give  me,  and  was  yearning  for  a  change 
and  a  wider  field  of  labor. 

One  day  a  gentleman  drove  up  to  the  store  in 
a  carriage  drawn  by  an  elegant  team  of  horses, 
and  asked  if  there  was  a  boy  there  named  Train. 
Mr.  Holmes  thereupon  called  to  me,  and  said  to 
the  strange  gentleman,  "  This  is  George  Francis 
Train."  He  then  told  me  that  the  stranger  was 
Colonel  Enoch  Train,  and  that  he  wanted  to  speak 
to  me. 

The  first  thing  Colonel  Train  said  was,  "  I  am 
surprised  to  see  you,  George.  I  thought  all  your 
family  were  dead  in  New  Orleans.  Your  father 
was  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine — and  your  mother, 
too."  He  said,  as  if  repeating  it  to  himself,  like 
a  sort  of  formula,  "  Oliver  Train,  merchant  in 
Merchants'  Row."    Then  he  continued:  "He  was 

52 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


my  cousin.  But  we  had  heard  that  you  were  all 
dead.  Where  have  you  been?  "  I  told  him  where 
I  had  been  living  for  the  past  ten  years,  with  my 
grandmother  at  Waltham,  and  how  my  uncle 
Clarke  had  brought  me  back  from  New  Orleans. 

After  he  had  made  a  number  of  inquiries  of  me, 
and  I  had  given  him  all  the  stock  of  information 
I  had,  Colonel  Train  drove  back  to  Boston.  I 
watched  the  retreating  carriage,  and  brave  and 
disturbing  thoughts  came  to  me. 

The  following  day  I  went  to  Boston.  I  had  no 
ver^^  definite  plan  of  action,  but  I  knew  that  when 
the  time  and  opportunity  came  I  should  find  my 
way,  as  usual.  And  so  I  went  directly  to  the  great 
shipping  house  of  Train  &  Co.,  at  37  Lewis  Wharf. 
The  big  granite  building  seemed  titanic  to  my 
eyes  then,  as  if  it  contained  the  whole  world  of 
business  and  enterprise.  When  I  went  back  to 
Boston  years  and  years  afterward,  it  seemed  only 
a  plain,  ordinary  affair.  At  first  sight  of  it  the 
place  was  simply  ahead  of  and  greater  than  any- 
thing I  had  seen.  When  I  had  outgrown  it,  it 
seemed  small. 

WTien  I  came  up  to  the  building,  my  purpose 
was  at  once  clear.  I  walked  in  and  asked  to  see 
Colonel  Train.  The  colonel  shook  hands  cordially, 
and  said  he  was  very  glad  to  see  me.  "  Where  do 
I  come  in? "  I  asked. 

"Come  in?"  he  almost  gasped  at  this  effron- 
tery.    "  Why,  people  don't  come  into  a  big  ship- 

53 


MY  LIFE  m  MANY  STATES 

ping  house  like  this  in  that  way.     You  are  too 
young." 

"  I  am  growing  older  every  day,"  I  replied. 
"  That  is  the  reason  I  am  here.  I  want  to  make 
my  way  in  the  world."  "  Well,"  said  the  colonel, 
smiling  at  me,  "  you  come  in  to  see  me  when  you 
are  seventeen  years  old." 

"  That  will  be  next  year,"  I  replied.  "  I  am 
sixteen  now.  I  might  just  as  well  begin  this  year 
— right  away."  He  tried  to  put  me  off  one  way 
after  another;  but  I  was  not  to  be  got  rid  of.  I 
was  there,  and  I  meant  to  stay. 

"  I  will  come  in  to-morrow,"  I  said.  Then  I 
left,  quite  content  with  myself  and  the  turn  my 
venture  had  taken.     Of  the  issue  I  had  no  doubt. 

Early  on  the  following  day,  I  went  to  the  ship- 
ping office,  and  took  my  seat  at  one  of  the  desks. 
I  sat  there  and  waited.  After  a  little  while.  Colo- 
nel Train  came  in.  He  was  astonished  to  see  me 
sitting  there,  ready  for  work. 

"  You  here  ?  "  he  stammered.  "  Have  you  left 
the  grocery  store!"  "Yes,  sir,"  I  said;  "I  have 
learned  everything  there  is  to  learn  there  and  in 
fact  had  done  so  before  I  had  been  there  six 
months.    I  want  a  bigger  field  to  work  in." 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  you  have  come  here 
without  being  invited!"  "As  I  was  not  invited, 
that  was  about  the  only  way  for  me  to  come,"  I 
said.  "  As  I  am  here,  I  might  as  well  stay."  And 
I  settled  myself  in  the  seat  at  the  desk. 

54 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


Colonel  Train  looked  at  the  bookkeeper  sorely 
perplexed.  But  I  saw  that  he  rather  admired  my 
persistence  and  bravado.  I  had  won  the  first  trial 
of  arms. 

"Well,"  said  he,  after  a  while,  turning  again 
to  the  bookkeeper,  "we  shall  see  if  we  can  find 
something  for  you  to  do."  "  I  will  find  something 
to  do,"  I  said.  He  smiled  cordially  at  this,  and 
said :  "  I  will  make  a  man  of  you."  "  I  will  make 
a  man  of  myself,"  I  replied. 

Then  the  colonel  asked  Mr.  Nazro,  who  had 
been  the  firm's  bookkeeper  for  many  years,  to  try 
to  find  something  for  me  to  do. 

It  so  happened  that  the  ship  Anglo-Saxon  had 
just  arrived  from  Liverpool,  Captain  Joseph  R. 
Gordon,  with  goods  for  150  consignees.  Mr. 
Nazro  handed  me  the  portage  bill  showing  the 
amount  to  be  collected  from  each  of  the  150  con- 
signees. The  amounts  were  set  down  in  English 
money,  and  Mr.  Nazro  asked  me  to  put  them  into 
American,  or  Federal,  money.  I  fancied  he  was 
setting  me  what  would  prove  to  be  an  impossible 
task,  just  to  dispose  of  me  for  all  time.  But  he 
blundered,  if  this  was  his  purpose.  I  had  had 
some  experience  of  English  money  at  the  grocery 
store,  having  often  to  change  it  into  American 
money. 

I  coolly  asked  Mr.  Nazro  what  was  the  pre- 
vailing rate  of  exchange,  and  he  replied  that  it  was 
$4.80  to  the  pound.    "  That  is  just  24  cents  to  the 

55 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

shilling,  two  cents  to  the  penny,"  I  said,  and  went 
to  work.  It  was  then  noon.  It  would  have  taken 
some  clerks  a  week  to  do  the  task ;  but  I  had  com- 
pleted it  by  six  o'clock  that  afternoon. 

When  I  handed  the  list  back  to  him,  he  asked, 
with  an  astonished  air,  if  I  had  finished  it.  "  You 
can  see  for  yourself,"  I  replied.  "  There  it  is,  all 
made  out  properly  and  correctly."  "  How  do  you 
know  it  is  right?*'  said  he.  "Because  I  have 
proved  it,"  I  replied. 

This  little  task  decided  my  fate.  Mr.  Nazro 
told  me  the  office  hours  were  from  eight  until  six, 
with  the  rest  of  the  time,  the  evenings,  all  my  own. 

The  next  morning  I  arrived  at  the  office 
promptly,  and  asked  Mr.  Nazro  what  I  was  to  do. 
He  handed  me  a  package  of  bills.  I  saw  they  were 
the  bills  upon  which  I  had  worked  the  day  before, 
changing  English  to  American  currency.  There 
were  150  of  them.  Each  was  to  contain  the  amount 
that  must  be  collected  from  each  of  the  consignees. 
I  at  once  set  to  work  on  this  new  task,  and  com- 
pleted it  in  less  time  than  it  had  taken  me  to 
change  the  money.  I  went  with  the  bills  to  Mr. 
Nazro,  and  asked  what  I  was  to  do  next.  He  gave 
me  a  collector's  wallet  into  which  to  put  the  bills, 
and  told  me  to  go  out  and  collect  the  amounts  due. 
This  was  a  staggerer,  but  I  set  about  the  diffi- 
cult undertaking  without  any  feeling  of  discour- 
agement. 

At  that  time  Boston  was  a  strange  city  to  me. 

56 


UST  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 

It  is  true  that  I  had  lived  on  the  edge  of  it  for 
years ;  but  my  ceaseless  work  at  the  grocery  store 
had  kept  me  from  roaming  over  the  town  and 
learning  anything  about  it.  The  only  section  I 
was  at  all  familiar  with  was  the  neighborhood  of 
the  old  Quincy  Market,  to  which  I  had  driven  so 
many  wagon-loads  of  garden  and  farm  "  truck " 
in  my  boyhood  days.  I  was  as  green  as  a  genuine 
countrjTuan  who  had  come  to  town  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life.  I  knew  not  a  soul  in  the  city. 
But  off  I  started,  nothing  abashed,  with  the  great 
wallet  of  bills  under  my  arm.  I  intended  to  suc- 
ceed at  this  task. 

I  soon  picked  out  my  course  through  the  city. 
I  worked  through  street  after  street,  and  collected 
as  I  went.  I  did  not  stop,  but  kept  steadily  on, 
and  in  the  afternoon  found  myself  at  the  end  of 
the  list.    I  had  collected  nearly  every  bill. 

I  returned  to  the  office  and  handed  the  wallet 
and  money  to  Mr.  Nazro.  Again  he  was  aston- 
ished. He  asked  if  I  had  collected  all  the  bills, 
and  when  I  told  him  nearly  all,  he  asked  me  for  the 
list.  I  said  I  had  made  out  none,  as  it  was  not 
necessary.  There  was  all  the  money;  he  could 
count  it,  and  compare  with  the  list  on  his  books. 
He  was  very  much  surprised,  but  counted  the 
money,  and  found  it  correct  to  a  cent.  I  did  not 
need  a  list,  I  told  him,  because  I  could  carry  the 
whole  thing  in  my  head. 

From  that  day  to  this  I  have  done  everything 

57 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

I  have  undertaken  in  my  own  way,  and  have  found 
that  it  was  the  best  way — at  least,  for  me. 

My  next  duty  was  to  see  that  every  one  of  the 
150  consignees  received  the  goods  that  were  billed 
to  him.  This  gave  me  opportunity  for  meeting  a 
large  number  of  important  persons.  Among  the 
rest,  I  met  Nathaniel  P.  Banks,  who  was  a  Cus- 
tom-House  official  at  the  time,  and  the  great  writer, 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  whom  I  saw  in  the  Custom- 
House  on  a  visit  from  Salem.  He  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  President  Polk.  Of  course  I  knew 
nothing  about  him  at  the  time,  although  he  was 
then  writing  his  greatest  work,  and  perhaps  was 
casting  in  his  mind  The  Scarlet  Letter.  He  had 
only  just  begun  to  be  famous — an  interesting  fact 
enough,  but  one  I  did  not  learn  till  long  after- 
ward. He  seemed  very  unassuming,  and  not  in 
very  affluent  circumstances.  I  suppose  his  salary 
from  the  Government  at  the  time  was  not  more 
than  $1,000  a  year. 

My  life  in  the  old  shipping  house  of  Train  & 
Co.,  in  Boston,  lasted  some  four  years.  The 
first  vessel  that  came  in,  after  I  began  working 
with  the  company,  was  the  Joshua  Bates,  named 
after  the  American  partner  of  the  famous  house 
of  the  Barings.  It  was  of  400  tons,  quite  a  big 
ship  for  the  time.  The  next  was  the  Washington 
Irving,  500  tons;  and  the  third  was  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  the  bills  of  which,  on  a  previous  voyage, 
I  had  made  out  in  my  trial  under  Mr.  Nazro.    The 

58 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


Anglo-Saxon  was  lost  the  following  year — this 
was  in  '46 — off  Cape  Sable,  with  several  passen- 
gers, the  captain  and  crew  escaping.  After  this 
the  Anglo-American  came  in,  then  the  Parliament, 
the  Ocean  Monarch,  and  the  Staffordshire.  All  of 
these  were  famous  ships  in  their  day. 

In  '48,  I  was  at  the  pier  one  day  on  the  look- 
out for  the  Ocean  Monarch.  Although  the  tele- 
graph had  been  estabUshed  in  '44,  it  had  not  been 
brought  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Boston,  and  we  had 
only  the  semaphore  to  use  for  signaling.  When 
a  ship  entered  the  harbor,  the  captain  would  take 
a  speaking-trumpet  and,  standing  on  the  bridge, 
shout  out  the  most  interesting  or  important  tidings 
so  that  the  news  would  get  into  the  city  before 
the  ship  was  docked.  The  Persia  was  also  due, 
with  Captain  Judkins,  and  it  came  in  ahead  of  the 
Ocean  Monarch.  Some  three  or  four  thousand 
persons  were  on  the  pier  waiting  eagerly  for  the 
captain's  news.  I  was  at  the  end  of  the  pier,  and 
saw  Captain  Judkins  place  the  trumpet  to  his  lips, 
and  heard  him  shout  the  tidings.  And  this  is  what 
I  heard: 

"  The  Ocean  Monarch  was  burned  off  Orm's 
Head.  Four  hundred  passengers  burned  or 
drowned.  Captain  Murdoch  taken  off  of  a  spar 
by  Tom  Littledale's  yacht.  A  steamer  going  to 
Ireland  passed  by,  and  refused  to  offer  assist- 
ance.   Complete  wreck,  and  complete  loss." 

The  captain  shouted  hoarsely,  like  a  sentence 
c  59 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

of  doom  from  the  "  last  trump."  Every  one  was 
stunned.  The  scene  was  indescribable,  both  the 
dead  silence  with  which  the  dreadful  tidings  were 
received,  and  the  wild  excitement  that  soon  burst 
forth. 

I  took  advantage  of  the  awed  hush  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  rushed  toward  the  street  end  of  the  pier. 
There  I  leaped  on  my  horse  that  was  waiting  for 
me,  and  galloped  off.  Crossing  the  ferry,  I  went 
madly  through  Commercial  Street,  up  State 
Street,  and  to  the  Merchants'  Exchange.  There 
I  mounted  a  chair,  and  amid  a  great  hush,  shouted 
out  the  tidings,  word  for  word,  and  in  almost  the 
exact  intonation  the  captain  had  used. 

One  day  a  gentleman,  looking  like  a  farmer, 
came  into  the  office  and  asked  to  see  Mr.  Train. 
I  remember  that  it  was  the  5th  of  October,  '47. 
I  replied  to  his  question  that  my  name  was  Train. 
"  I  mean  the  old  gentleman,"  he  said. 

I  told  him  that  Colonel  Train  was  out  of  the 
office  at  the  time,  but  that  as  I  had  charge  of  the 
ships,  I  might  be  able  to  attend  to  his  business. 
But  I  added  that  I  was  in  a  hurry,  as  the  "Wash- 
ington Irving  was  to  sail  in  an  hour.  "  That  is 
just  what  I  am  here  for,"  said  he.  "  I  want  to  sail 
on  that  ship ;  I  want  passage  for  England." 

I  told  him  there  was  one  state-room  left,  and 
that  he  could  have  both  berths  for  the  price  of  one 
— $75,  but  that  he  must  get  aboard  in  great  haste, 
as  everything  was  ready  and  the  ship  waiting  for 

60 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 

final  orders.  He  said  he  was  ready,  and  I  started 
to  fill  up  a  passenger  slip.  "  What  is  your 
name?"  I  asked.  "Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,"  he 
replied. 

Then  he  took  out  of  his  pocket  an  old  wallet, 
with  twine  wrapped  around  it  four  or  five  times, 
opened  it  carefully,  and  counted  out  $75.  I  could 
not  wait  to  see  whether  it  was  correct,  but  threw  it 
in  the  drawer,  and  took  him  on  board. 

Mr.  Emerson  was  then  starting  on  his  famous 
visit  to  England,  during  which  he  was  to  visit 
Carlyle.  He  afterward  mentioned  the  occurrence 
in  his  English  Traits,  where  he  said:  "I  took 
my  berth  in  the  packet-ship  Washington  Irving." 
From  the  moment  when  I  thus  met  Emerson 
for  the  second  time,  I  began  to  take  great  in- 
terest in  him,  read  him  carefully,  and  have  con- 
tinued to  read  him  throughout  my  life.  He  has 
had  more  influence  upon  me  than  any  other  man 
in  the  world. 

We  once  chartered  the  ship  Franklin  to  take 
a  cargo  of  tar,  pitch,  and  turpentine  from  Wil- 
mington, N.  C,  consigned  to  the  Baring  Brothers, 
London,  and  return  with  a  cargo  of  freight.  She 
was  about  due  from  England,  thirty-five  days  hav- 
ing elapsed  since  she  had  started  to  return.  By 
this  time  I  had  been  placed  in  charge  of  all  the 
shipping,  and  I  was  on  the  lookout  for  the  Frank- 
lin. One  day  the  news  came  by  semaphore  that  a 
large  ship  had  been  wrecked  just  off  the  light- 

61 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

house,  while  coming  into  Boston  harbor.  It  was 
not  known  what  ship  it  was.  The  sender  of  the 
message  asked  if  Train  &  Co.  had  a  ship  due.  I 
thought  at  once  it  might  be  the  FrankHn,  making 
a  somewhat  faster  passage  than  we  had  expected. 

The  next  day  some  of  the  wreckage  came  into 
the  harbor,  and,  strangely  enough,  a  piece  of  the 
floating  timbers  bore  the  name  Franklin  on  it.  I 
was  at  the  pier  when  this  discovery  was  made,  and 
rushed  at  once  to  the  insurance  office  to  see 
whether  the  policy  covering  the  freight  had  been 
arranged.  It  was  all  right.  On  the  following 
day,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  Boston,  the  valise 
of  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Franklin  was  washed 
ashore  at  Nantasket.  In  it  were  many  letters, 
and  among  them  were  instructions  telling  how  "  to 
sink  the  vessel  off  the  lighthouse,  as  she  was  fully 
insured."  When  the  ship  went  down  the  captain 
was  drowned  with  the  rest  of  the  crew  and  the  pas- 
sengers. 

I  saw  at  once  that  here  was  a  case  of  barratry 
of  the  master,  and  that  the  letter  would  jeopardize 
the  whole  affair  of  the  insurance.  It  was  a  mat- 
ter that  needed  prompt  and  able  legal  work.  I 
hastened  to  the  office  of  Kufus  Choate,  the  most 
famous  lawyer  in  New  England  of  that  time.  I 
hurriedly  explained  to  Mr.  Choate  that  we  had 
lost  a  ship,  and  needed  a  lawyer.  "  Will  you  ac- 
cept a  retainer  of  $500?"  I  added.  He  accepted 
it  at  once,  and  turned  to  his  desk  to  write  out  a  re- 

62 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


ceipt.  I  said  there  was  no  necessity  for  a  receipt, 
as  the  check  would  be  receipt  enough,  and  hurried 
away. 

I  then  went  directly  across  the  street  to  the 
ofifice  of  Daniel  Webster,  who  was  then  practising 
law  in  Boston.  I  was  particularly  anxious  to  have 
Mr.  Webster  retained.  I  remember  now  the  roar 
of  his  great,  deep  voice  as  he  responded  to  my 
knock  with  a  "  Come  in "  that  was  like  a  battle 
peal.  And  I  recall  well  the  picture  of  the  great 
man,  as  I  saw  him  for  the  first  time.  He  sat  at 
his  flat  desk,  a  magnificent  example  of  manhood, 
his  massive  head  set  squarely  and  solidly  upon  his 
shoulders.  He  did  not  have  very  much  business 
in  those  days,  and  the  clients  that  found  a  way  to 
his  office  were  few. 

"  Mr.  Webster,"  I  said,  "  we  want  your  services 
in  a  very  important  case.  Will  you  accept  this  as 
a  retainer?"  I  handed  him  a  check  for  $1,000. 
He  accepted  it  very  promptly,  and  it  seemed  to 
me  at  the  time  that  the  check  loomed  large  to  him. 
Such  sums  came  seldom. 

One  incident  in  the  trial  of  the  case  impressed 
me  deeply.  It  was  the  masterly  manner  in  which 
Mr.  Choate  examined  the  witnesses.  He  had  the 
reputation  of  being  the  most  effective  cross-exam- 
iner in  New  England.  Before  him,  in  the  witness- 
box,  stood  one  of  the  owners.  Mr.  Choate  wanted 
to  confuse  him  in  his  testimony  as  to  the  way  in 
which  he  had  done  a  certain  thing.    He  began  by 

63 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

asking  the  longest  and  most  complex  question  that 
I  ever  heard.  It  wound  all  around  the  case,  and 
straggled  through  every  street  in  Boston.  "  You 
say,"  Mr.  Choate  began,  "you  say  that  you  did 
so  and  so,  that  you  went  to  such  and  such  a  place, 
that  after  this  you  did  so  and  so,  and  thus  and  so," 
and  he  kept  on  asking  him  if  after  doing  this  and 
that  if  such  and  such  was  not  the  case,  until  there 
was  no  answering  the  question,  or  understand- 
ing it. 

But  Mr.  Choate  had  tackled  the  wrong  man  for 
once.  The  man  was  an  Irishman,  and  the  most 
nonchalant  person  I  ever  saw.  Nothing  seemed 
to  confuse  him.  While  Mr.  Choate  was  firing  his 
complicated  questions  at  him,  he  sat  perfectly  un- 
moved, unshaken.  He  seemed  to  be  taking  it  all 
in.  Then  when  the  astute  lawyer  had  finished,  the 
witness  looked  at  him  quietly,  and  said :  "  Mr. 
Choate,  will  yez  be  after  rapatin'  that  again  ? " 

Bar  and  bench  and  spectators  broke  into  roars 
of  laughter.  For  once  Mr.  Choate  was  confused. 
But  we  won  the  case,  as  was  to  be  expected,  thanks 
to  our  matchless  array  of  legal  ability. 

We  had  two  ships  engaged  in  making  what  was 
known  as  "  the  triangular  run  " — from  Boston  to 
New  Orleans,  New  Orleans  to  Liverpool,  and  Liv- 
erpool back  to  Boston.  They  were  the  St.  Peters- 
burg, built  in  '40  for  the  cotton  trade,  and  having 
for  a  figurehead  the  head  and  shoulders  of  the  Em- 
peror Nicholas;  and  the  Governor  Davis,  named 

64 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


for  the  governor  of  the  Bay  State,  whose  son  is 
now  living  at  Newport.  Once  we  were  expecting 
the  Governor  Davis  to  arrive  at  New  Orleans, 
where  the  freight  rates  were  higher  than  they  had 
been  in  many  years — three  farthings  the  pound. 
The  vessel  was  to  be  loaded  with  cotton  for  Liver- 
pool. We  were  elated  at  the  prospect  of  big  prof- 
its, when  a  telegram  came  from  our  agent,  Levi  H. 
Gale,  at  New  Orleans.  It  read :  "  The  Governor 
Davis  is  burned  up." 

Our  hearts  sank.  A  fortune  had  been  lost,  or 
at  least  the  opportunity  to  make  one.  I  went  im- 
mediately to  the  insurance  office  to  see  that  the 
policies  were  all  right,  and  found  them  in  good 
shape.  Then  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  might 
be  a  possibility  of  error  in  the  message.  Eager 
with  my  thought,  I  rushed  to  the  telegraph  office 
and  asked  to  have  the  message  repeated  carefully, 
no  matter  what  it  might  cost.  After  awhile  there 
came  back  what  had  been  a  terrifying  message  in 
this  new  form :  "  The  Governor  Davis  is  bound 
up."    The  vessel  was  safe,  and  so  were  our  profits. 

My  connection  with  the  packet  lines  brought 
me  into  contact  with  many  prominent  business 
men  of  Boston.  Very  often  I  was  able  to  do  some 
little  thing  for  them,  and  once  a  very  amusing  in- 
cident occurred  in  connection  with  the  attempt  of 
Mr.  Milton,  of  the  firm  of  Milton,  Cushman  &  Co., 
to  get  some  English  pigs  for  breeding  purposes. 
I  had  charge  of  the  catering  for  our  vessels,  and 

65 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

made  the  purchases.  Mr.  Milton  asked  me  to  get 
him  some  English  pigs,  and  I  promised  that  we 
would  bring  some  over  by  the  very  next  ship.  As 
the  vessels  were  out  for  quite  a  time,  we  fre- 
quently carried  live  animals  aboard  for  food,  and 
usually  hogs  and  pigs.  It  so  happened  that  on 
this  particular  trip,  when  going  east,  one  of  the 
sows  gave  birth  to  a  litter  of  pigs.  They  were 
taken  to  Liverpool.  By  some  mistake  they  were 
brought  back  and  delivered  to  Mr.  Milton.  He 
prized  them  very  highly,  until  later  on  he  discov- 
ered that  they  were  American  pigs,  born  under 
the  American  flag  on  the  high  seas.  The  mistake 
subjected  him  to  much  good-natured  chaffing.  No 
one  forgot  the  incident  during  the  old  gentleman's 
life. 

Of  course,  there  was  always  present  the  temp- 
tation to  do  a  little  business  on  my  own  account, 
during  my  connection  with  the  Train  Packet  Lines. 
Indeed,  the  desire  to  do  this,  and  the  experience  I 
got  in  it,  were  the  foundations  of  my  subsequent 
business  success.  It  was  inevitable  that  I  should 
have  undertakings  of  my  own. 

My  first  speculation  was  the  shipment  of  a 
cargo  of  Danvers  onions  to  Liverpool  in  consign- 
ment of  Baring  Brothers.  I  was  eager  to  have  my 
first  venture  turn  out  a  success.  The  onions  were 
packed  carefully  in  barrels,  and  I  saw  myself  that 
they  were  in  the  best  condition  before  they  were 
shipped.    I  felt  as  if  I  had  taken  every  precaution, 

66 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


and  that  I  was  assured  of  a  pretty  good  thing. 
Then  came  the  news  from  England :  "  Onions  ar- 
rived; not  in  good  order.    Debit,  £3  17s.  6d." 

That  was  the  disappointing  result  of  my  first 
venture.  I  was  a  loser.  Years  afterward,  when 
I  was  launching  shipping  lines  between  Australia 
and  America,  I  cited  this  little  experience  of  mine 
as  an  example  of  what  might  be  expected  by  many 
who  sent  cargoes  to  the  other  end  of  the  world. 

My  second  venture  proved  more  successful. 
This  was  the  shipping  of  fish  on  ice  to  New  Or- 
leans. It  paid  me  well.  But  my  real  career  as  a 
shipper  started  in  quite  another  and  different  way. 
I  am  ashamed  to  confess  how  I  began  this  career, 
which  made  me  a  shipper  of  cargoes  to  the  other 
end  of  the  earth.  But  as  I  was  too  ignorant  at 
the  time  to  know  much  better,  or,  indeed,  to  give 
any  thought  at  all  to  the  matter,  I  shall,  in  the  in- 
terest of  truth,  make  a  full  confession.  I  became 
a  smuggler  of  opium  into  China  I 

It  happened  in  this  way.  One  of  our  captains, 
who  was  about  to  start  with  a  cargo  for  the 
Orient,  asked  me  if  I  did  not  want  to  send  over 
something  for  sale,  as  he  thought  a  good 
profit  might  be  made  on  a  shipment  of  something 
in  demand  there.  "  What  would  be  a  good  thing 
to  send?  "  I  asked.    "  Opium,"  said  he  laconically. 

Opium  meant  nothing  to  me  then.  I  had  never 
thought  of  it  in  any  way  other  than  as  a  market- 
able product  and  an  object  in  cargoes.    So  I  went 

^     67 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

to  Henshaw's,  in  Boston,  and  got  three  tins  of 
opium,  the  best  he  had.  This  I  placed  in  charge  of 
the  captain,  and  he  smuggled  it  into  China,  and 
got  a  good  price  for  it,  to  the  profit  of  himself 
and  me. 

But  the  smuggling  did  not  end  there.  I  had 
instructed  him  to  lay  in  a  supply  of  curios,  silks, 
and  other  oriental  things,  and  bring  them  to  Bos- 
ton. This  part  of  the  venture  was  as  successful 
as  the  first,  and  I  made  quite  a  snug  little  sum.  It 
was  my  first  considerable  profit.  That  was  in 
'46-'47. 

I  do  not  think  any  one  in  good  standing  in 
business  has  an  idea  now  of  cheating  the  Govern- 
ment out  of  tariff  duties.  I  had  not,  at  that 
time,  the  slightest  idea  that  I  was  doing  wrong. 
I  felt  entirely  innocent  of  defrauding  two  govern- 
ments, and  did  not  realize  that  I  was  a  smuggler. 
The  wrong  of  the  transaction  I  fully  understood 
afterward. 

But  I  fear  that  the  moral  sense  as  to  smug- 
gling, to  use  an  ugly  term,  was  not  so  delicate  in 
those  days.  Even  patriotic  and  good  men  thought 
that  it  was  not  very  bad  to  bring  in  articles  from 
Europe  and  the  Orient  without  stopping  to  pay  the 
duty  levied  by  the  United  States.  There  was  no 
systematic  attempt  to  defraud  the  Government. 
There  was  just  no  thought  at  all,  except  to  get  in 
a  few  luxuries  upon  which  it  did  not  seem  worth 
while  to  pay  the  customs  dues.    I  can  recall  a  few 

68 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 

examples  of  this  lax  way  of  treating  the  tariff 
regulations.  They  were  the  acts  of  men  of  great 
social  and  business  prominence.  If  done  to-day, 
they  would  shock  the  whole  country — even  the 
Democratic  and  low  tariff,  or  no  tariff,  part  of  it. 

One  day  a  banker,  who  was  a  famous  figure  in 
Boston,  a  leader  in  the  world  of  business,  asked 
me  if  I  could  not  bring  over  for  him  some  silver 
he  had  ordered  sent  to  the  Train  offices  in  Liver- 
pool. I  consented.  Shortly  after  this,  the  steward 
of  the  Ocean  Monarch  told  me  he  had  a  very  heavy 
package  addressed  to  "  George  Francis  Train."  I 
directed  him  to  bring  it  into  the  office.  Then  I  saw 
that  the  heavy  package  was  addressed,  in  the  cor- 
ner, from  the  shippers  to  this  famous  Boston 
banker.  And  so,  without  any  intent  to  defraud 
the  Government  on  my  part,  and,  I  suppose,  with- 
out any  intent  on  the  part  of  the  great  banker  to 
do  a  distinctly  wrong  act,  we  had  actually  con- 
spired to  smuggle  in  some  exquisite  silver  plate 
for  the  richest  banker  in  New  England,  to  save  a 
few  dollars'  tariff  duty! 

Once  while  I  was  in  Paris,  in  '50,  I  wanted 
to  buy  some  presents  for  the  young  lady  to  whom  / 
I  was  engaged  to  be  married — Miss  Davis — who 
was  then  living  in  Louisville,  Ky.  I  called  at  the 
Paris  office  of  a  famous  American  firm  of  jewel- 
ers, and  the  resident  agent  took  me  to  a  magnifi- 
cent establishment,  where  I  saw  the  wealth  of  a 
world  in  gems. 

69 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

An  amusing  tiling  happened,  which  I  shall  re- 
late before  I  complete  the  story  of  this  smug- 
gling incident.  I  asked  at  once  to  see  the  most 
beautiful  things  the  shop  contained,  the  latest,  and 
most  charming.  Imagine  my  surprise  and  horror 
when  the  young  girl  who  was  showing  me  around 
the  shop  exhibited  to  me  a  package  of  pictures 
that  would  have  subjected  me  to  immediate  arrest 
and  incarceration  had  they  been  found  on  my  per- 
son in  this  city.  She  explained  to  me  that  this  was 
the  part  of  the  business  in  her  charge,  and  that 
she  thought,  as  I  was  an  American  and  new  to 
Paris,  I  wanted  to  get  hold  of  some  startling  pic- 
tures to  carry  back  to  the  United  States. 

Passing  through  this  temptation  unscathed,  I 
finally  got  to  the  jewels  and  gems  of  all  sorts,  and 
selected  some  for  my  betrothed.  I  bought  about 
$1,000  worth.  Suddenly  the  agent  of  an  American 
house  turned  on  me  and  said  he  was  thinking  of 
sending  a  present  to  his  firm  in  New  York,  and 
asked  if  I  would  not  take  charge  of  it  and  deliver 
it,  or  have  it  delivered  direct.  Of  course  I  did  not 
know  what  this  meant — that  he  wanted  me  to  get  a 
\  package  of  jewels  to  his  firm  without  paying  the 
j  tariff  duty.  I  consented,  however,  before  I  went 
into  the  ethical  question,  and  brought  over,  per- 
haps, a  package  of  splendid  and  costly  diamonds 
for  one  of  the  richest  houses  in  the  world. 

While  in  charge  of  the  ships  of  the  house  in 
Boston  I  had  a  little  yacht,  called  The  Sea  Witch, 

70 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 


that  I  used  in  boarding  vessels  in  the  harbor.  One 
day  there  arrived  a  very  great  man,  in  my  opinion 
a  tower  of  strength  in  finance— Thomas  Baring, 
afterward  Lord  Kevelstoke,  who  succeeded  Lord 
xVshburton  as  the  representative  of  England  in 
this  country.  I  had  prepared  to  take  him  on  a  trip 
around  the  harbor,  and  everything  was  ready  for 
the  sail  the  following  day,  when  he  was  suddenly 
called  to  Washington,  and  sent  me  a  note  which 
read  as  follows ; 

"  Dear  Mr.  Train  : 

"As  I  leave  for  Washington  in  the  morning, 
I  regret  that  it  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  go 
with  you  on  The  Sea  Witch  to  see  Boston  harbor. 
I  remember  with  pleasure  the  canvasback  ducks 
that  you  sent  to  me  at  London,  and  which  gave  me 
and  my  friends  so  much  pleasure.  I  hope  to  see 
you  on  my  return. 

"  Thomas  Baring." 

The  great  development  of  the  clippers,  the 
boats  that  soon  made  the  reputation  of  the  United 
States  on  the  seas,  was  due  chiefly  to  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California.  This  made  it  necessary  to 
send  a  great  number  of  ships  to  the  Pacific  coast, 
and  I  saw  that  it  was  essential  to  the  success  of  the 
trade  to  send  large  boats  that  could  make  profits 
on  this  long  voyage. 

Gold  was  discovered  in  '48.    At  that  time  our 

71 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

packets  had  attained  to  the  size  of  only  800  tons. 
They  were  considered  large  boats  at  the  time,  but 
now  would  be  called  mere  tubs.  I  saw  that  if  we 
wanted  to  enter  the  trade  with  the  Pacific  we 
should  have  to  get  larger  ships.  Our  first  packets 
had  been  built  at  East  Boston  by  Donald  Mackay : 
the  Joshua  Bates,  400  tons;  the  Washington  Irv- 
ing, 500  tons ;  the  Anglo-Saxon,  600  tons ;  the  An- 
glo-American, 700  tons;  the  Ocean  Monarch,  800 
tons.  In  a  few  years  we  had  enlarged  the  packet 
clipper  from  a  vessel  of  400  tons  to  one  of  800 
tons,  or  twice  the  size.  The  Ocean  Monarch  was 
regarded  as  a  veritable  monster  of  the  seas. 

When  the  gold-fever  was  setting  the  country 
frantic,  and  every  one,  apparently,  wanted  to  go 
to  CaUfornia,  I  said  to  Mackay :  "  I  want  a  big 
ship,  one  that  will  be  larger  than  the  Ocean  Mon- 
arch." Mackay  replied,  "  Two  hundred  tons  big- 
ger?" "No,"  said  I,  "I  want  a  ship  of  2,000 
tons."  Mackay  was  one  of  those  men  who  merely 
ask  what  is  needed.  He  said  he  would  build  the 
sort  of  ship  I  wanted.  "  I  shall  call  her  the  Fly- 
ing Cloud,"  I  said.  This  is  the  history  of  that 
famous  ship,  destined  to  make  a  new  era  in  ship- 
building all  over  the  world. 

Longfellow  sent  me  a  copy  of  his  poem.  The 
Building  of  the  Ship,  which  he  had  written  to  com- 
memorate the  construction  of  a  much  smaller  ves- 
sel. Not  only  ship-builders,  but  the  whole  world, 
was  talking  of  the  Flying  Cloud.    Her  appearance 

72 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE  IN  BOSTON 

in  the  world  of  commerce  was  a  great  historic 
event. 

No  sooner  was  the  Flying  Cloud  built  than 
many  ship-owners  wanted  to  buy  her.  Among 
others,  the  house  of  Grinnell,  Minturn  &  Co.,  of 
the  Swallow-Tail  Line,  of  Liverpool,  asked  what 
we  would  take  for  her.  I  replied  that  I  wanted 
$90,000,  which  meant  a  handsome  profit.  The 
answer  came  back  immediately,  "  We  will  take 
her."  We  sent  the  vessel  to  New  York  under 
Captain  Cressey,  while  I  went  on  by  railway. 
There  I  closed  the  sale,  and  the  proudest  moment 
of  my  life,  up  to  that  time,  was  when  I  received  a 
check  from  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  the  New  York  head 
of  the  house,  for  $90,000. 

The  Flying  Cloud  was  sent  from  New  York  to 
San  Francisco,  and  made  the  passage  in  eighty- 
six  days,  with  a  full  cargo  of  freight  and  passen- 
gers, paying  for  herself  in  that  single  voyage  out 
and  back.  Her  record  has  not  been  beaten  by  any 
sailing  ship  in  the  fifty-three  years  that  have  since 
elapsed. 

The  building  of  this  vessel  was  a  tremendous 
leap  forward  in  ship-building ;  but  I  was  not  satis- 
fied. I  told  Mackay  that  I  wanted  a  still  larger 
ship.  He  said  he  could  build  it.  And  so  we  began 
another  vessel  that  was  to  outstrip  in  size  and 
capacity  the  great  Flying  Cloud. 

I  was  desirous  to  name  this  ship  the  Enoch 
Train,  in  honor  of  the  head  of  the  Boston  house, 

73 


MY  LIFE  m  MANY  STATES 

and  had  said  as  much  to  Duncan  MacLane,  who 
was  the  marine  reporter  for  the  Boston  Post. 
MacLane  had  usually  written  a  column  for  his 
paper  on  the  launching  of  our  ships.  He  wanted 
to  have  something  to  write  about  the  new  vessel. 
I  told  him  the  story  of  Colonel  Train's  life,  and 
that  we  were  going  to  christen  the  new  vessel  with 
his  name.  I  did  not  consult  Colonel  Train,  think- 
ing that,  of  course,  it  was  all  right. 

The  Post  published  a  long  account  of  the  ship, 
and  gave  the  name  as  the  Enoch  Train.  When  I 
went  down  to  the  office  that  morning  Colonel 
Train  had  not  yet  arrived,  but  he  soon  came  in, 
walking  straight  as  a  gun-barrel,  and  seeming  to 
be  a  little  stiff.  "  Did  you  see  the  Post  this  morn- 
ing?" I  asked.  "Premature,"  he  replied.  That 
was  all  he  said.  He  would  not  discuss  the  matter. 
I  was  nettled  that  he  did  not  appreciate  the  honor 
I  thought  I  was  conferring  on  him.  It  was  not 
for  nothing  that  a  man's  name  should  be  borne 
by  the  greatest  vessel  on  the  seas.  I  said  to  my- 
self that  the  name  should  be  changed  at  once.  The 
ship  was  to  be  of  2,200  tons  burden,  larger  than 
the  Flying  Cloud  and  the  Staffordshire,  both  of 
2,000  tons,  and  I  decided  to  call  her  the  Sovereign 
of  the  Seas. 

The  news  that  we  were  building  a  still  bigger 
ship  was  rapidly  circulated  throughout  the  world. 
Many  shipping  lines  wanted  to  buy  her  before  she 
was  off  the  ways.     Despatches  from  New  York 

74 


IN  A  SHIPPING  HOUSE   IN  BOSTON 

shipping  lines  making  inquiry  as  to  price  came 
almost  daily.  I  invariably  replied  that  we  would 
take  $130,000.  But  this  was  a  little  too  stiff  a 
price  at  that  time,  although  the  Flying  Cloud  had 
paid  for  herself  in  a  single  trip.  I  finally  sold  her 
to  Berren  Roosen,  Jr.,  of  Hamburg,  Germany, 
through  the  brokers  Funch  &  Menkier,  of  New 
York,  for  $110,000.  She  was  entered  in  my  name, 
although  I  was  at  the  time  only  nineteen  years  of 
age.  I  was  quite  proud  to  have  the  greatest  ves- 
sel then  afloat  on  any  water  associated  with  my 
name.     She  was  sent  to  Liverpool. 

The  California  business  had  grown  steadily, 
and  the  house  of  Train  had  taken  a  leading  part  in 
it.  One  of  the  biggest  of  our  ships  was  built  ex- 
pressly for  it,  and  employed  on  the  long  run  from 
Boston  to  San  Francisco.  This  was  the  Stafford- 
shire, which  we  had  named  for  the  great  potteries 
in  England  from  which  we  got  so  much  of  our  im- 
port freight.  She  was  of  the  same  size  and  ton- 
nage as  the  Flying  Cloud — 2,000  tons.  We  sent 
her  to  California  on  her  first  trip  under  Captain 
Richardson,  full  of  freight  and  passengers.  There 
were  three  hundred  passengers,  each  paying  $300 
for  the  trip  around  the  Horn.  This  brought  us  in 
$90,000,  completely  paying  for  the  cost  of  building 
and  equipping,  with  cash  in  hand,  before  she 
sailed. 

The  Flying  Cloud  and  the  Staffordshire  were 
followed  by  about  forty  fast  clippers  during  the 
7  75 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

great  gold-fever  of  '49.  I  was  still  in  my  teens, 
and  consider  it  not  an  insignificant  thing  to  have 
accomplished  the  initiation  of  this  magnificent 
clipper  service  which  revolutionized  sailing  ves- 
sels all  over  the  world,  and  gave  to  America  the 
reputation  for  building  the  fastest  ships  on  the 
seas. 

When  the  California  business  first  opened  up, 
I  was  bent  upon  going  to  the  Golden  Horn  myself. 
I  felt  that  there  was  to  be  a  great  development  in 
trade  and  permanent  business  there,  and  wanted 
to  "  get  in  on  the  ground  floor."  But  this  was  not 
to  be,  and  my  destiny  detained  me  at  Boston  to 
take  my  share  in  the  building  of  fast  clippers  and 
in  developing  the  trade  from  the  Atlantic  side  of 
the  continent.  I  saw  that  MacKondray  &  Co.,  and 
Flint,  Peabody  &  Co.,  who  went  to  California  about 
this  time,  were  making  fortunes  out  of  commis- 
sions. I  also  saw  men  go  there  later  to  become 
millionaires  in  a  few  years — men  like  John  W. 
Mackay,  the  pioneer,  who  died  recently  in  London, 
worth  somewhere  approximating  $100,000,000, 
most  of  it  taken  out  of  the  Comstock  Lode,  the  last 
of  the  "Big  Four" — Mackay,  Flood,  Fair,  and 
O'Brien — all  of  whom  are  dead.  But  my  fortunes 
led  in  another  direction.  I  was  to  go  East,  and 
not  West. 

In  connection  with  the  clipper  service  to  Cali- 
fornia, I  should  mention  here  the  beginning  of  the 
Irish  immigration  to  this  country,  which  started  at 

76 


IN  A  SHIPPmG  HOUSE   IN  BOSTON 

the  time  of  the  gold-fever.  I  saw  that  this  coun- 
try was  very  sparsely  populated,  that  there  were 
vast  areas  entirely  unoccupied,  and  that  there  was 
not  only  room,  but  need,  for  more  people.  I  also 
had  an  eye  to  increasing  our  own  business,  as  our 
ships  were  returning  from  Liverpool  with  very 
few  passengers.  In  casting  about  in  my  mind  to 
create  business,  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  Irish, 
who  were  particularly  restive  and  desirous  of 
coming  to  America,  might  be  turned  into  passen- 
gers for  our  boats  and  into  settlers  of  our  waste 
places. 

My  first  step  was  to  engage  the  services  of  as 
many  Irish  'longshoremen  and  stevedores  as  pos- 
sible. These  were  always  talking  of  their  friends 
in  Ireland,  and  their  friends  in  the  old  country 
were  asking  them  for  information  about  the 
United  States.  I  got  the  'longshoremen  and  steve- 
dores to  scatter  throughout  Ireland  information 
about  this  country  and  about  the  way  to  get  here. 
I  then  set  to  work  to  arrange  for  giving  to  the 
poor  Irish  immigrants  a  cheap  and  convenient 
means  of  passage. 

I  invented  the  prepaid  passenger  certificate, 
and  also  the  small  one-pound  (English  money) 
bill  of  exchange.  To  disseminate  information 
about  the  plan,  I  had  inserted  in  the  Boston  Pilot, 
the  Catholic  organ  of  the  day,  the  following  ad- 
vertisement, it  being  a  letter  from  the  Catholic 
archbishop : 

77 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

"  The  Boston  and  Liverpool  Packet  Line  of 
Enoch  Train  &  Co.  have  arranged  to  issue  prepaid 
passenger  certificates  and  small  bills  of  exchange 
for  one  pound  and  upward.  This  firm  is  highly 
respectable,  and  has  established  agencies  through- 
out Ireland  for  the  benefit  of  Irish  immigrants. — 
f  FiTZPATRiCK,  Archbishop  of  Boston." 

This  advertisement,  and  this  indorsement  from 
a  high  Catholic  authority,  gave  a  marked  impetus 
to  the  flow  of  Irish  immigrants  into  America. 


78 


CHAPTER   VII 

A  VACATION  TOUR 
1850 

In  *50  it  was  decided  that  I  should  go  to 
Liverpool  to  take  charge  of  the  house  there.  I 
asked  Colonel  Train  if  I  could  not  first  have  a 
holiday,  so  that  I  might  see  a  Httle  of  my  own 
country.  He  told  me  to  take  two  months,  and  to 
see  as  much  as  I  could  in  that  time.  My  ship  was 
scheduled  to  sail  July  25,  '50.  This  was  the  only 
holiday  I  had  had  in  four  years. 

I  started  for  New  York.  After  a  brief  stay 
there,  I  went  to  Cape  May.  My  recollections  of 
that  place,  which  was  then  the  great  resort  of  the 
Atlantic  coast,  include  a  famous  score  I  made  in 
rolling  ten-pins.  This  game  was  my  forte,  and  I 
remember  that  I  defeated  a  party  of  Philadel- 
phians,  scoring  strike  after  strike,  and  left  my 
score,  290,  marked  up  on  the  wall.  It  stood  un- 
rivaled for  years. 

I  hurried  on  to  Washington  from  Cape  May. 
The  trip  was  then  made  by  boat,  rail,  and  stage. 
As  soon  as  I  reached  Washington,  I  called  on  Dan- 

79 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

iel  Webster,  then  Secretary  of  State.  I  was  shown 
into  his  office,  gave  him  news  of  New  England, 
and  said  that  every  one  was  discussing  his  great 
speech  of  the  7th  of  March  of  that  year.  He  looked 
at  me  inquiringly.  "  Some  are  hostile  toward 
your  sentiments,"  I  said;  "but  most  of  the 
people  are  with  you."  "  They  are  talking  about 
it,  are  they  ? "  This  was  the  only  comment  he 
made. 

Afterward  he  introduced  me  to  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Leroy  Webster,  and  asked  if  I  would  like  to  meet 
the  President.  I  was  delighted,  and  said  so.  "  Just 
wait  a  moment,"  he  said,  and  sat  down  at  his  desk, 
took  a  quill  pen  and  wrote  on  a  sheet  of  blue  paper, 
nearly  a  foot  square,  "  To  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  introducing  a  young  friend  of  mine 
from  Boston,  George  Francis  Train,  shipping 
merchant,  who  merely  wishes  to  pay  his  respects 
to  the  president. — Daniel  Webster."  The  large 
writing  covered  almost  the  whole  page.  I  thanked 
him,  and  started  at  once  for  the  White  House. 

On  arriving  there,  I  was  at  once  ushered  into 
the  presence  of  General  Taylor,  who  sat  at  his 
desk.  The  presidential  feet  rested  on  another 
chair.  I  begged  him  not  to  rise,  but  to  let  me  feel 
at  home,  and  handed  him  the  letter  from  Mr. 
Webster. 

At  his  request,  I  seated  myself  opposite  him, 
and  from  this  point  of  vantage  made  a  hurried 
study  of  his  appearance.    He  wore  a  shirt  that  was 

80 


A  VACATION  TOUR 


formerly  white,  but  which  then  looked  like  the  map 
of  Mexico  after  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista.  It  was 
spotted  and  spattered  with  tobacco  juice. 

Directly  behind  me,  as  I  was  soon  made  aware, 
was  a  cuspidor,  toward  which  the  President  turned 
the  flow  of  tobacco  juice.  I  was  in  mortal  terror, 
but  I  soon  saw  there  was  no  danger.  With  as  un- 
erring an  aim  as  the  famous  spitter  on  the  boat 
in  Dickens's  American  Notes,  he  never  missed  the 
cuspidor  once,  or  put  my  person  in  jeopardy. 

My  conversation — because,  I  suppose,  it  was 
new  to  him — interested  him,  and  he  would  not  let 
me  go  for  half  an  hour.  I  told  him  the  news  of 
New  England,  and  about  my  journey  to  Liverpool 
and  its  object.  This  particularly  interested  him, 
and  he  asked  me  a  hundred  questions  about  the 
shipping  business  and  the  prospects  of  developing 
trade  with  England. 

As  I  was  about  to  leave,  I  said  to  him  that  I 
prized  very  highly  the  letter  from  Mr.  Webster,, 
and  should  be  very  glad  to  be  able  to  keep  it ;  "  and 
I  should  prize  it  still  more  highly,  Mr.  President, 
if  you  would  add  your  autograph  to  it."  "  Cer- 
tainly," he  replied,  and  then  took  up  a  quill  pen, 
and  wrote  "  Z.  Taylor."  He  courteously  asked  me 
to  call  to  see  him  again  before  I  left  for  England. 

From  the  Wliite  House,  I  went  direct  to  the 
National  Hotel,  where  I  asked  to  see  Mr.  Clay. 
I  was  shown  up  to  his  room,  and  soon  stood  in  the 
presence  of  the  great  Southern  orator.    I  observed 

81 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

■ 

that  his  shirt  also  bore  the  same  marks  as  that  of 
the  President — stained  and  smeared  with  tobacco 
juice. 

I  told  him  that  I  was  about  to  start  for  Eng- 
land, and  that,  as  I  had  a  letter  signed  by  Mr. 
Webster  and  the  President,  I  should  like  to  add  his 
signature  also.  "  I  believe  that  two  signatures 
are  usually  necessary  on  Mr.  Webster's  paper," 
said  Mr.  Clay  with  a  smile.  He  then  added  his 
autograph  to  the  paper. 

Before  leaving  for  Liverpool,  I  visited  Mount 
Vernon,  of  course,  while  in  Washington,  saw  the 
Georgetown  Convent,  and,  indeed,  everything  of 
interest  in  the  capital  at  that  time.  Then  I  went 
back  to  New  York  and  up  the  Hudson  to  West 
Point. 

My  visit  to  West  Point  was  especially  pleasant. 
I  comraded  with  the  cadets,  who  invited  me  to 
sleep  in  their  tent  on  the  campus.  Among  the 
young  fellows  there  at  the  time,  who  was  very 
pleasant  and  friendly,  was  Alfred  H.  Terry,  after- 
ward one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  our  officers. 
I  attended  the  cadets'  ball  at  Cozzens's  Hotel, 
messed  with  them,  and  entered  into  all  of  their 
sports  and  daily  routine.  I  was  astonished  to  no- 
tice that  in  the  morning  the  roar  of  the  gun  did  not 
disturb  their  slumbers,  although  it  shook  me  from 
sleep.  But  the  lightest  tap  of  the  drum  aroused 
them  instantly.  It  was  force  of  habit,  which,  I 
was  to  learn  later,  enables  men  to  sleep  amid  the 

82 


A  VACATION  TOUR 


roar  of  artillery  on  the  battlefield,  or  amid  the 
howling  of  storms  on  the  ocean.  In  sleep,  as  in 
our  waking  hours,  the  trained  and  discipUned  mind 
hears  what  it  wants  to  hear. 

From  West  Point  I  went  on  to  Saratoga 
Springs.  It  was  my  first  visit  to  these  famous 
springs,  and  I  enjoyed  it  immensely.  On  the  boat 
up  the  Hudson  I  met  a  beautiful  lady,  Mrs.  Carle- 
ton,  who  was  with  her  sister.  Mrs.  Carleton  was 
the  wife  of  a  wealthy  New  York  merchant,  who 
had  a  villa  on  Staten  Island.  I  stopped  at  Mar- 
vin's United  States  Hotel.  This  was  fifty-two 
years  ago,  and  the  hotel  is  still  there,  while  Mar- 
vin, who  entertained  me  more  than  half  a  century 
ago,  died  last  year,  his  age  somewhere  in  the  nine- 
ties. I  enjoyed  every  moment  of  my  stay  at  Sara- 
toga, for  I  had  never  seen  anything  of  social  life, 
and  it  was  all  new  and  delightful.  The  enormous 
caravansary,  with  its  throngs  of  guests,  its  never- 
ceasing  round  of  gaiety,  and  its  own  liberal  life, 
entranced  me.  Manners  seemed  less  formal  then 
at  the'  famous  spa,  and  the  ladies  were  pleased  to 
meet  any  one  in  the  most  unconventional  and 
charming  way. 

As  I  say,  I  was  very  unsophisticated.  I  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  the  "  great  world,"  and  I  was 
completely  horrified  one  evening  when  one  of  the 
ladies  said  to  me  in  a  whisper :  "  Can  you  not  get 
me  a  glass  of  brandy  ? "  I  had  never  touched  a 
drop  of  brandy,  whisky,  oi«  even  wine,  and  to  have 

83 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


this  beautifully  dressed  and  refined  lady  ask  me 
for  a  glass  of  brandy  was  a  decided  shock  to  me. 
I  understand  that  now,  however,  it  is  not  very 
uncommon  for  ladies  to  drink  wine,  whisky,  and 
brandy. 

I  have  seen  it  stated  in  the  papers  recently  that 
the  waters  at  Saratoga  have  the  effect  of  lessening 
thirst  for  more  ardent  waters  of  a  spirituous 
nature.  I  did  not  happen  to  observe  any  such 
effect  of  the  waters  when  I  was  there  a  half  cen- 
tury ago.  Drinking  was  quite  general,  and  cer- 
tainly little  restraint  seemed  to  be  practised. 

I  found  in  society,  as  elsewhere  in  the  greater 
affairs  of  life,  that  leadership  was  wanting.  Peo- 
ple stood  by  and  waited  for  some  one  to  take  the 
initiative.  One  evening  one  of  the  ladies  said  to 
me  that  the  ball  had  not  been  arranged  for.  I 
asked  what  ball,  and  she  said  the  regular  season 
ball.  For  some  reason,  it  had  not  been  arranged 
by  the  hotel  people,  and  no  one  seemed  disposed 
to  take  hold  of  it.  I  said,  "  It  should  be  arranged 
immediately."  I  saw  a  few  of  the  leaders,  talked 
it  over  with  them,  and  got  them  together.  We 
brought  off  the  ball — my  first  experience  in  these 
deep  waters  of  social  life — with  great  success.  I 
had  then  been  in  Saratoga  just  two  days.  While 
I  was  there  I  had  the  honor  of  meeting  the  social 
leader  of  Boston,  Mrs.  Harrison  Grey  Otis,  and 
the  social  leader  of  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  Rush. 
There  were  also  present  at  the  Springs  many  rep- 

84 


A  VACATION  TOUR 


resentatives  of  the  most  prominent  families  in  the 
social  life  of  New  York. 

I  saw  in  Saratoga  the  first  "  gambling  hell " 
that  I  had  ever  seen,  and  I  was  so  green  about  such 
things — another  tribute  to  my  dear  old  Pickering 
grandmother  and  New  England  Methodism — that 
I  did  not  know  what  a  "  gambling  hell "  was  when 
asked  if  I  should  like  to  see  one.  While  I  possess 
an  inquisitive  nature,  I  have  found  it  a  good  rule 
not  to  ask  too  many  questions,  until  you  have  tried 
to  find  out  things  without  betraying  your  igno- 
rance. I  went  to  the  "  hell,"  and  was  properly 
shocked.  The  scene  suggested  to  me  the  gaming 
at  Monte  Carlo.  I  saw  a  number  of  men  sitting 
around  a  table  playing  as  intently  as  if  their  lives 
depended  upon  the  fall  of  a  card. 

My  attention  was  attracted  toward  a  young 
man,  apparently  of  about  twenty-five,  who  was  in 
a  desperate  plight.  Agony  was  visibly  graved  in 
every  feature  and  in  every  line  of  his  face.  I 
asked  who  he  was,  and  heard  the  name  of  a  dis- 
tinguished family  of  northern  New  York.  "  What 
is  the  matter  with  him ! "  I  asked.  My  cicerone 
seemed  astonished  at  my  stupendous  ignorance. 
"  Why,  can  you  not  see  they  are  *  going  through ' 
him  1 "  he  said  in  turn.  The  expressive  term  was 
sufficient  even  for  my  unsophisticated  mind.  It 
told  the  whole  story,  like  a  "  scare-head "  in  a 
"  yellow  "  newspaper. 

Then  I  turned  from  the  victim  to  the  predatory 

85 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

players  about  him.  Who  were  they?  To  my  sur- 
prise, the  names  were  those  of  men  famous  the 
world  over  as  bankers,  merchants,  and  financiers. 
There  was  one  man  that  especially  interested  me. 
It  was  the  American  representative  of  an  English 
house  whose  commercial  paper  our  house  frequent- 
ly used.  I  said  to  myself,  "  I  will  cut  his  name 
from  our  list,"  and  I  did — for  a  time.  I  learned 
afterward  that  banking  was  only  one  form  of 
gambling.  Great  financiers  are  often  clever  game- 
sters— players  for  desperate  stakes,  but  infinitely 
better  players  than  their  victims.  This  world  of 
finance  is  a  great  Monte  Carlo.  It  was  vain  to 
entertain  a  prejudice  against  only  one  of  the 
players. 

It  was  now  necessary  for  me  to  hurry  back  to 
Boston  in  order  to  catch  the  Parliament,  on  which 
I  had  already  engaged  passage.  But  before  leav- 
ing America,  I  wanted  to  see  something  of  Canada, 
and  resolved  upon  a  rapid  trip  to  Montreal,  espe- 
cially as  I  found  that  I  could  return  to  New  York 
that  way  almost  as  quickly  as  to  go  across  the 
State.  I  went  on  to  Niagara,  and  then  sailed  for 
Montreal,  and  had  the  novel  experience  of  shoot- 
ing La  Chine  Rapids,  an  Indian  piloting  the  boat. 
This  was  a  great  thing  in  those  days,  and  I  was 
amazed  to  see  how  skilfully  the  Indian  guided  the 
boat  in  and  out  among  the  rocks,  never  doubtful 
of  his  course,  never  touching  the  edges  of  the 
reefs  and  boulders,  never  imperiling  human  life. 

86 


A  VACATION  TOUR 


I  understood  that  for  years  tliese  pilots  had  guided 
the  boats  down  the  rapids  without  a  single  acci- 
dent. 

On  the  boat  on  which  I  went  down  the  St.  Law- 
rence I  met  Captain  Stoddard,  of  the  Crescent 
City  Steam  Packet,  New  York  and  Havana,  and 
Mr.  Dinsmore,  of  the  Adams  Express  Company, 
with  the  ladies  of  their  families.  We  all  saw  Mont- 
real together,  and  some  members  of  the  party 
made  excursions  to  places  elsewhere.  One  of  these 
was  to  the  famous  Grey  Nunnery,  the  doors  of 
which  were  closed  to  the  outside  world.  But  these 
Americans,  with  true  American  spirit,  expected 
all  doors  to  open  to  them,  and  would  not  accept 
the  situation. 

When  they  told  me  of  their  failure  to  get  into 
the  nunnery,  I  said  I  was  astonished  that  the  rep- 
resentative of  a  big  steamboat  company  and  of  a 
big  express  company  could  not  get  into  any  build- 
ing they  wished  to  enter.  "  I  will  show  you  what 
I  can  do,"  I  said.  I  had  already  taken  thought  of 
the  talismanic  letter  from  Daniel  Webster,  coun- 
tersigned by  the  President  and  Mr.  Clay,  the  three 
biggest  men,  in  popular  estimation,  in  the  United 
States  at  that  time.  As  I  shall  afterward  relate, 
this  letter  did  me  a  good  turn  later  in  Scotland, 
opening  doors  to  me  that  were  closed  to  nearly  all 
the  world.  It  was  now  to  serve  me  well ;  but  this 
was  the  first  time  I  had  found  occasion  for  its 
service  since  leaving  Washington. 

87 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 

I  went  immediately  to  the  nunnery,  where  I 
asked  to  see  the  Lady  Superior.  I  told  her  I  had 
visited  the  Convent  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  New 
York  and  Georgetown,  and  that  I  wanted  to  see 
how  they  compared  with  this  most  famous  con- 
vent in  Canada.  This  did  not  impress  her  very 
much,  it  seemed  to  me,  and  I  instantly  had  recourse 
to  my  letter.  "  As  you  do  not  know  me,"  I  said, 
"  this  letter  may  serve  as  a  sort  of  introduction." 
Then  I  brought  out  with  a  flourish  my  Webster- 
Taylor-Clay  letter.  The  doors  at  once  flew  open 
before  me !  After  viewing  the  interior  of  the  nun- 
nery, I  told  the  Lady  Superior  that  I  had  a  party 
of  friends  at  the  hotel  who  would  like  very  much 
to  see  the  building,  and  that  if  she  would  permit 
me,  I  should  like  to  bring  them  around  in  the 
morning.  She  consented,  and  the  next  day  I  took 
the  entire  party  to  the  nunnery  and  we  were  shown 
through  by  the  Lady  Superior. 

My  time  was  now  running  short,  and  I  had  to 
hasten  back  to  New  York,  if  I  wanted  to  catch  the 
Parliament.  I  went  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain, 
Ticonderoga,  and  Lake  George,  and  again  saw 
something  of  Saratoga  and  the  Hudson.  At  Ticon- 
deroga I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  Bishop 
Spencer  of  Jamaica,  and  his  son-in-law  Arch- 
deacon Smith,  and  we  traveled  together  to  Sara- 
toga. Here  we  met  Commodore  Trescot,  of  the 
Bermuda  Yacht  Club.  I  invited  them  all  to  dine 
with  me   at  the   George   Hotel,   at  Lake   Sara- 

88 


A  VACATION  TOUll 


toga.  I  was  struck  by  the  bishop's  dress,  for  it 
was  the  first  time  I  had  seen  the  black  knicker- 
bockers and  the  three-cornered  chapeau.  I  do  not 
mention  the  dinner — which  was  not  a  great  affair 
— merely  for  the  sake  of  referring  to  the  knicker- 
bockers or  the  chapeau,  but  because  the  bishop 
pressed  upon  me  a  special  invitation  to  call  upon 
him  when  I  came  to  London. 


89 


CHAPTER   VIII 

A   PARTNER   IN   THE   LIVERPOOL   HOUSE 

1850-1852 

From  Saratoga,  I  went  down  the  Hudson 
to  New  York,  and  thence  to  Boston,  where  I  ar- 
rived in  time  to  take  the  Parliament,  Captain 
Brown,  on  the  25th  of  July.  I  had  lived  fast  in 
the  eight  weeks  of  my  holiday.  It  was  the  only 
vacation  I  had  had  since  I  had  begun  my  business 
life  as  a  grocer  boy  in  Holmes's  store,  and  I  had 
worked  hard  during  that  long  period.  The  result 
was  that  I  sprang  back  too  far,  like  the  released 
bow,  and  was  soon  to  see  the  effects.  As  my  time 
was  so  limited,  I  had  tried  to  make  the  most  of  it, 
and  had  rushed  from  place  to  place,  had  lived  in 
all  sorts  of  hotels  and  eaten  all  sorts  of  food. 
Besides,  the  travel,  all  of  which  had  been  in  a 
whirl  of  excitement,  aided  in  upsetting  my  phys- 
ical system. 

A  few  days  on  the  boat  were  enough  to  com- 
plete the  wreck.  I  was  as  badly  shaken  up  as  Mont 
Pelee,  and  was  ill  for  most  of  the  voyage.  When 
I  reached  Liverpool,  I  had  lost  thirty  pounds,  and 

90 


PARTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

had  to  be  taken  off  the  steamer,  and  was  carried 
to  the  house  of  Mr.  Thayer,  the  Liverpool  partner 
of  Colonel  Train.  It  was  two  or  three  months  be- 
fore I  completely  recovered. 

I  had  hardly  reached  England  before  I  began 
to  realize  that  the  people  there  use  a  somewhat 
different  version  of  the  English  language  than  we 
are  accustomed  to  in  America.  My  physician  was 
Dr.  Archer.  He  came  to  see  me  one  morning  just 
after  I  had  had  my  breakfast,  and  took  his  stand 
immediately  before  the  fire,  with  his  back  to  it. 
"  I  am  half  starved,"  he  said.  I  immediately  rang 
the  bell,  and  when  the  servant  came  turned  to 
the  physician  and  asked  what  he  would  have 
for  breakfast.  He  said  he  had  eaten  breakfast 
and  did  not  want  anything  more.  "But,"  said 
I,  "you  said  you  were  half  starved;  surely 
you  must  be  hungry."  He  burst  into  a  roar  of 
laughter.  "  I  meant  that  I  was  half  starved  with 
cold." 

With  this  as  a  beginning,  I  began  to  pick  up 
the  vocabulary  peculiar  to  the  modern  English. 
My  next  acquisition  was  "  nasty."  I  was  informed 
that  a  rather  disagreeable  day  was  a  very  "  nasty  " 
day,  and  that  the  weather  was  simply  "  beastly." 
After  mastering  these  three  words,  which  were  en- 
tirely new  to  me,  and  adding  such  words  as  I  could 
pick  up  from  the  daily  speech  of  the  men  I  met,  I 
was  soon  able  to  get  along  in  some  fashion  with  the 
English  of  England. 

8  91 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

My  first  British  holiday  was  spent  in  Scot- 
land, where  I  stayed  for  a  week.  When  I  was  at 
Balmoral  the  Queen  happened  to  be  there.  Leav- 
ing Balmoral,  I  went  to  Braemar,  on  the  way  to 
Aberdeen.  A  number  of  young  students  were 
there  at  the  time,  and  I  spent  some  moments  talk- 
ing with  them.  Suddenly,  there  was  a  tremendous 
uproar  and  excitement,  and  I  saw  a  four-in-hand 
drive  up.  The  students  informed  me  that  it  was 
the  Premier,  Lord  John  Russell,  who  had  just  re- 
turned from  an  audience  with  the  Queen  at  Bal- 
moral. I  saw  there  was  a  chance  for  some  sport. 
Turning  to  the  students,  with  a  smile,  I  said :  "  I 
wonder  how  his  lordship  knew  I  had  come  to 
Braemar?  I  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  of  speak- 
ing with  him." 

The  students  laughed  satirically.  One  of  them 
said:  "Look  heah,  Mr.  Train,  that  sort  of  thing 
won't  do  heah,  you  know.  We  don't  do  things  as 
you  do  in  America."  Another  suggested  that  I 
should  not  be  treated  very  civilly  if  I  attempted  to 
approach  Lord  John  Russell. 

For  reply,  I  took  out  a  card  and  wrote  on  it: 
"An  American,  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  is 
delighted  to  know  that  he  is  under  the  same  roof 
with  England's  Premier,  Lord  John  Russell,  and, 
before  he  goes,  would  ask  the  pleasure  of  speaking 
with  his  lordship  for  a  moment."  I  carefully  fold- 
ed the  card  in  the  letter  that  had  been  given  to 
me  by  Mr.  Webster,  and  afterward  signed  by  the 

92 


PARTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

President  of  the  United  States  and  Henry  Clay.    I 
sent  the  two  in  to  his  lordship. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  door  opened,  and  the  sec- 
retary of  Lord  John  Russell  came  in  and  asked 
for  "  Mr.  Train."  I  said  I  was  Mr.  Train.  "  Lord 
John  Russell,"  replied  the  secretary,  "  waits  the 
pleasure  of  speaking  with  Mr.  Train  of  Boston." 
I  followed  him  out  of  the  room,  to  the  amazement 
of  the  young  students,  who  didn't  do  things  that 
way  in  England. 

His  lordship  received  me  with  that  easy  grace 
and  courtesy  which  I  have  always  observed  in  Eng- 
lishmen of  high  rank.  I  told  him  I  would  not  take 
up  any  of  his  time,  and  that  I  merely  wanted  to 
meet  him.  He  made  me  talk  about  the  United 
States,  and  insisted  upon  introducing  me  to  his 
wife.  She,  also,  received  me  graciously,  saying 
she  was  "  always  glad  to  see  Americans."  She 
asked  me  many  questions  about  this  country  and 
especially  about  Niagara  Falls.  A  half  hour 
passed  by  before  I  was  aware  of  the  time.  I 
begged  pardon  for  staying  so  long,  and  left. 

In  my  book.  Young  America  Abroad,  I  have 
referred  to  this  incident  and  to  the  courteous  re- 
ception I  met  at  Braemar.  When  I  had  gone 
around  the  world,  and  returned  to  America,  and 
was  at  Newport  with  Colonel  Hiram  Fuller,  in  '56, 
there  came  to  me  in  the  mail  one  morning  a  coro- 
neted  note.  It  was  from  London,  and  written  by 
Lady  Russell. 

93 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

"  It  was  so  kind  of  you,"  it  said,  "  to  remember 
us  at  Braemar,  and  to  send  us  your  Young  Amer- 
ica Abroad,  which  his  lordship  and  I  have  read 
with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  When  you  come 
to  London,  come  to  see  us. — Fannie  Russell." 

Our  Liverpool  office  was  at  No.  5  Water  Street, 
George  Holt's  building.  As  soon  as  I  was  able  to 
look  after  the  company's  interests,  I  went  down  to 
the  office  and  took  charge.  Mr.  Thayer  returned 
to  Boston,  and  later  to  New  York.  This  left  me 
in  complete  control.  At  twenty  years  of  age,  I 
was  the  manager  of  the  great  house  of  Train  & 
Co.,  in  Liverpool. 

I  at  once  began  to  reorganize  things  in  Liver- 
pool, and  to  develop  our  business.  I  put  on  two 
ships  a  month  between  Liverpool  and  Boston,  and 
arranged  the  James  McHenry  line  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  sent  transient  ships  to  New  York.  We 
also  had  what  was  known  as  the  "  triangular  line," 
handling  cotton  and  naval  stores. 

Liverpool  I  found  to  be  a  great  port,  but  very 
much  belated.  It  was  too  conservative,  and  the  old 
fogies  there  were  quite  content  to  keep  up  customs 
•that  their  ancestors  had  followed  without  try- 
ing to  improve  upon  them,  or  to  introduce  new 
and  better  ones.  I  set  to  work  to  improve  every- 
thing in  our  business  that  was  susceptible  of  im- 
provement. 

I  was  astonished,  the  very  first  day  after  I 
reached  the  office,  to  learn  that  nothing  was  done 

94 


PARTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

at  night.  The  entire  twelve  hours  from  six  in  the 
afternoon  to  six  the  following  morning  were  ab- 
solutely lost,  and  this  in  a  business  that  requires 
every  minute  of  time  in  the  twenty-four  hours. 
Ships  can  not  be  delayed,  held  at  ports  for  day- 
light, or  laid  up  while  men  sleep.  The  work  of 
loading  and  unloading  must  proceed  with  all  de- 
spatch, if  there  is  to  be  any  profit  in  handling  the 
business,  and  ships  must  be  sent  on  their  voyages 
without  loss  of  valuable  time.  I  had  supposed 
that  the  English  shippers  thoroughly  understood 
these  simple  principles  of  the  business  in  which 
they  have  led  the  world. 

Our  vessels  were  very  expensive,  and  we  could 
not  afford  to  lose  the  twelve  hours  of  the  night. 
That  much  time  meant  a  profit  to  us,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  utilize  it.  What  was  my  surprise,  when 
I  went  to  the  proper  authorities,  to  find  that  we 
should  not  be  allowed  to  light  up  the  Liverpool 
docks  at  night,  or  to  have  fires  on  them.  It  was 
feared  that  we  should  burn  the  structures  and 
destroy  the  shipping  and  docks.  These  dignified 
gentlemen  even  laughed  at  me  for  suggesting  such 
a  foolhardy  undertaking. 

I  said  to  myself,  there  is  always  one  way  to 
reach  men,  and  I  will  find  the  way  to  reach  these 
dignitaries.  It  occurred  to  me  that  I  could  reach 
them  most  surely  through  a  plea  for  the  prosperity 
of  the  port.  I  went  at  once  to  the  representatives 
of  all  the  American  lines  having  ofiices  in  Liverpool, 

95 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 

to  organize  them  into  a  combined  attack  on  the 
Liverpool  port  authorities.  I  saw  Captain  Delano 
of  the  Albert  Gallatin,  Captain  French  of  the 
Henry  Clay,  Captain  West  of  the  Cope  Philadel- 
phia line.  Captain  Cropper  of  Charles  H.  Mar- 
shall's Black  Ball  line,  Zerega  of  the  Blue  Packet 
line,  and  others,  and  we  decided  upon  asking  the 
dock  board  to  give  us  a  hearing.  This  the  board 
very  readily  consented  to  do. 

Prior  to  this  meeting,  I  went  to  all  the  Amer- 
ican representatives  and  outlined  my  plan  of  cam- 
paign. This  was  to  say  very  plainly  to  the  dock 
board  that  unless  we  could  have  fires  and  lights 
on  the  docks  we  would  take  the  shipping  to  other 
ports.  The  captains  and  others  were  astonished, 
but  they  agreed  to  let  me  approach  the  board  with 
this  plain  threat. 

I  then  went  to  the  board,  with  all  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  American  lines,  and  quietly  told 
the  members  that  we  wanted  fires  and  lights  on 
the  docks  at  night,  that  we  needed  this  in  order  to 
carry  on  our  business  in  our  way,  and  that  unless 
we  could  have  them,  we  should  at  once  go  to  other 
ports.  Abandoning  a  mood  of  amused  laughter, 
these  gentlemen  suddenly  became  very  serious. 
Their  hoary  customs  did  not  seem  so  sacred  then, 
and  they  ended  by  throwing  a  complete  somer- 
sault, and  granting  us  full  permission  to  light  up 
the  Liverpool  docks  at  night. 

Of  course  this  made  a  tremendous  difference 

96 


PAKTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

to  all  of  us.  We  could  now  load  our  ships  at  night, 
thus  saving  one  half  of  the  twenty-four  hours, 
which  we  had  been  losing.  I  understand  that  the 
Morgan  combination,  fifty-two  years  after  this, 
has  again  forced  concessions  from  the  Liverpool 
dock  board  by  threatening  to  take  the  ships  to 
Southampton. 

Our  principal  freight  from  Liverpool  at  that 
time  consisted  of  crockery  from  the  Staffordshire 
potteries,  Manchester  dry-goods,  and  iron  and 
steel,  and  what  were  known  as  "  chow-chow,"  or 
miscellaneous  articles.  We  often  had  as  many  as 
150  consignees  in  a  single  cargo.  Our  principal 
business  connections  were  the  firms  of  John  H. 
Green  &  Co.  and  Forward  &  Co.,  who  shipped  pot- 
tery; Bailey  Brothers  &  Co.,  Jevons  &  Co.,  A.  & 
S.  Henry  &  Co.,  Crafts  &  Stell,  Charles  Humbers- 
ton,  and  John  Ireland.  Our  passenger  agent  was 
Daniel  P.  Mitchell,  18  Waterloo  Road. 

The  first  blunder  that  I  made  in  Liverpool — 
and  the  only  serious  one,  I  believe — was  in  con- 
nection with  shipping  emigrants  to  the  United 
States.  One  day  a  man  came  into  the  office  and 
said  he  was  from  the  estate  of  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne,  and  wanted  to  contract  for  the  ship- 
ment of  300  passengers  for  New  York.  We  soon 
came  to  terms,  and  I  chartered  the  ship  President. 
We  charged  the  Marquis  from  £3  15s.  to  £4  a  head. 
I  learned  afterward  that  these  passengers  were 
poor  tenants  of  his  estates.     The  Marquis  of  that 

97 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

time  was  the  grandfather  of  the  present  Marquis 
of  Lansdowne,  Minister  of  War  in  the  Salisbury- 
cabinet. 

At  that  time  we  had  to  pay  $2  a  head  for  all 
immigrants  entering  the  country,  I  had  tried  to 
get  this  changed,  through  Mr.  Webster,  but  had 
failed.  We  had  also  to  give  bond  that  the  immi- 
grants would  not  become  a  public  charge.  It 
proved  a  very  expensive  contract  for  us,  as  we 
had  to  bring  back  many  of  these  paupers  for  the 
old  Marquis  to  take  care  of. 

When  I  left  Boston,  I  had  taken  a  partnership, 
one  sixth  interest,  in  the  house  of  Train  &  Co.  In 
Liverpool  I  had  twenty-five  clerks  under  me,  and 
at  one  time  had  four  ships  in  Victoria  Docks.  It 
may  be  inferred  that  I  conducted  the  business  with 
some  degree  of  success,  as  my  interest — one  sixth 
— for  the  first  year  was  $10,000.  Next  year,  when 
in  London,  I  was  invited  to  a  grand  reception 
given  by  Abbott  Lawrence,  138  Piccadilly,  who 
was  then  United  States  minister  at  the  court  of 
St.  James's.  That  day  I  dined  with  Lord 
Bishop  Spencer  of  Jamaica,  whom  I  had  met  in 
Saratoga,  and  took  Lady  Harvey  in.  This  was  my 
acceptance  of  the  invitation  he  had  extended  to 
me  in  Saratoga.  The  bishop  asked  if  I  was  going 
to  the  reception  of  the  American  minister  that 
night,  and,  on  my  saying  that  I  was,  asked  me  to 
accept  a  place  in  his  carriage.  This  I  very  gladly 
did,  as  I  had,  by  this  time  learned  a  great  deal 

98 


PAKTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

about  the  value  of  state  and  ceremony  in  English 
life.  The  sequence  will  show  how  this  worldly; 
wisdom  served  me. 

At  the  dinner,  however,  I  had  had  a  very  nar- 
row escape.  It  was  the  "  closest  call,"  as  we  say  in 
the  West,  that  my  temperance  Methodist  princi- 
ples ever  had.  I  was  asked,  as  a  great  mark  of 
distinction,  to  taste  the  pet  wine  of  the  bishop. 
The  bishop  himself  acted  as  chief  tempter  of  my 
old  New  England  principles.  He  handed  me  a 
glass,  saying :  "  Mr.  Train,  this  is  the  wine  we  call 
the  *  cockroach  flavor.'  I  want  you  to  drink  some 
of  it  with  us,"  and  he  glanced  around  his  table,  at 
which  were  seated  many  titled  Englishmen  and 
women. 

What  was  I  to  do  ?  Should  I,  caught  in  so  dire 
an  emergency,  drown  my  principles  in  the  cup  that 
cheers  and  inebriates?  Was  all  my  Methodism 
and  New  England  temperance  to  go  down  in  ship- 
wreck ?  The  exigency  nerved  me  for  the  task,  and 
I  found  a  courage  sufficient  to  carry  me  through. 
I  had  never  tasted  a  drop  of  wine,  and  I  was  not 
going  to  begin  now.  I  glanced  about  the  room, 
and  slowly  raised  the  glass  to  my  lips.  I  did  not 
taste  the  wine,  but  the  other  guests  thought  that  I 
did.  "We  all  know,"  I  said,  "that  the  wine  at 
your  lordship's  table  is  the  best."  This  passed 
without  challenge,  and,  in  the  ripple  of  applause, 
my  omission  to  drink  the  wine  was  not  observed. 

Later  in  the  evening  I  went  with  the  bishop 

99 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

to  the  American  minister's  reception,  and  soon 
saw  how  well  it  was  that  I  was  in  Ms  lordship's 
carriage.  Had  I  been  in  a  hired  cab,  I  should  have 
fared  badly.  I  should  have  had  to  wait  in  the  long 
line  of  these  vehicles,  while  flunkeys  called  out,  in 
stentorian  tones  as  if  to  advertise  all  London  of 
the  fact  that  you  were  in  a  hired  concern,  "  Mr. 
Train's  cab ! "  and  other  flunkeys,  down  the  line, 
would  take  up  the  cry,  "  Mr.  Train's  cab ! "  until 
one  would  sink  in  a  fever  of  chagrin.  But  as  I 
came  in  the  bishop's  carriage,  I  heard  respectful 
voices  announce,  "  Lord  Spencer  and  Mr.  Train." 

I  observed  several  ladies  bending  over  an  el- 
derly gentleman,  and  soon  another  lady  asked  me 
if  I  had  seen  the  duke.  As  there  were  two  or  three 
dukes  present,  I  asked  which  one.  She  looked  very 
much  surprised,  as  if  there  could  be  more  than  one 
duke  in  the  world.  "  Why,  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton ! "  she  exclaimed. 

I  now  took  occasion  to  get  a  good  look  at  the 
venerable  old  man.  It  was  the  first  time,  and 
proved  to  be  the  only  time,  I  ever  saw  him.  He 
would  not  have  impressed  me,  I  think,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  light  of  history  which  seemed,  after 
I  once  knew  it  was  he,  to  illuminate  his  face  and 
frame.  It  was  the  last  year  of  his  enjoyment  of 
great  renown.    He  died  shortly  afterward. 

While  in  England,  I  availed  myself  of  every 
opportunity  to  see  the  country,  and  study  it  from 
every  possible  point  of  view.    I  may  add  that  this 

100 


PARTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

has  been  my  invariable  custom  in  all  countries. 
I  have  gone  through  the  world  as  an  inquirer  and 
an  observer  of  men  and  things.  As  I  had  visited 
Scotland,  I  was  desirous  of  seeing  another  of  the 
islands,  Wales,  so  I  ran  down  into  that  curious 
country  on  a  vacation,  in  1850.  I  went  to  Bangor, 
on  the  Menai  Straits,  and  hardly  had  got  into  the 
hotel  when  a  tremendous  commotion  in  the  corri- 
dors told  me  that  some  guest  of  unusual  impor- 
tance had  arrived.  I  asked  who  it  was,  and  was 
informed  that  it  was  the  Duke  of  Devonshire. 

"  That  is  exceedingly  fortunate  for  me,"  I  said. 
"  There  is  no  man  that  I  would  rather  see  at  this 
moment  than  the  Duke  of  Devonshire."  At  this, 
my  companions — among  whom  were  young  Grin- 
nell,  of  Grinnell,  Bowman  &  Co.,  whose  father  sent 
the  Resolute  to  find  Sir  John  Franklin,  young 
Eussell,  and  young  Jevons,  an  iron  merchant — be- 
gan laughing  immoderately.  I  wrote  on  a  card 
that  an  American,  who  happened  to  be  at  the 
George  Hotel  when  he  arrived,  would  like  to  see 
him,  if  it  would  not  be  too  great  an  intrusion  upon 
his  time.  I  added  that  it  had  been  one  of  the  de- 
sires of  my  life  to  visit  his  famous  estate  at  Chats- 
worth. 

This  note  I  sent  to  the  duke  by  a  messenger. 
Immediately  came  back  a  reply  that  the  duke 
would  be  very  glad  to  see  me,  and  I  was  ushered 
into  his  presence.  He  was  then  an  elderly  man, 
his  voice  tremulous  and  uncertain.     To  make  it 

101 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

still  more  difficult  to  converse  with  liim,  he  was 
deaf,  but  used  an  ear-trumpet.  I  succeeded  in  tell- 
ing him  that  his  palace  at  Chatsworth  was  well 
known  throughout  America  by  reputation,  and 
that  I  should  like  very  much  to  see  it,  while  I  was 
in  that  part  of  Great  Britain.  He  replied  that  I 
must  certainly  see  it  before  leaving.  He  then 
called  to  his  secretary  to  bring  him  a  blue  card, 
and  wrote  upon  it  a  pass  to  enter  the  grounds  and 
buildings.  This  was  all  very  kind,  and  I  thanked 
him  for  the  courtesy. 

He  then  completely  stunned  me  by  saying: 
"  You  must  see  the  emperor  I "  I  knew  that  the 
Czar  of  Russia  had  been  his  guest,  but  it  was  not 
likely  that  he  was  at  Chatsworth  at  that  time;  so 
I  endeavored  to  divine  what  the  duke  meant.  My 
mind  ran  over  horses,  conservatories,  and  dogs. 

I  could  not,  for  a  moment  or  two,  imagine  what 
"  the  emperor  "  could  be,  and  was  about  to  com- 
mit myself  irrevocably  to  a  conservatory,  a  favor- 
ite horse,  or  hound ;  but  before  making  any  remark 
gave  him  an  appreciative  smile  which  seemed  to 
please  his  grace.  He  called  for  the  blue  card 
again,  and  wrote  on  it :  "  Let  the  emperor  play  for 
Mr.  Train."  I  learned  afterward  that  it  cost  the 
duke  $500  to  have  "the  emperor"  play,  and  so 
much  the  more  appreciated  his  courtesy.  I  re- 
marked that  I  had  heard  "  the  emperor  "  referred 
to  as  the  highest  fountain  in  all  Europe. 

As  soon  as  I  got  back  to  Liverpool,  I  made  up 

102 


PARTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

a  little  party  to  visit  Chatsworth.  "When  we 
reached  the  station  I  was  astonished  to  see  almost 
a  regiment  of  uniformed  servants  waiting  to  meet 
us.  I  was  even  more  astounded  when  the  head  of 
this  body-guard  of  retainers  approached  and  asked, 
in  the  most  deferential  manner :  "  When  will  your 
royal  highness  have  luncheon  ?  "  I  saw,  of  course, 
that  they  were  taking  me  for  some  one  else,  and 
remarked  that  they  were  perhaps  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Hesse-Cassel,  whom  I  had 
just  seen  at  the  hotel.  The  prince  came  up  almost 
immediately  afterward,  and  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  "the  emperor"  play,  by  special  authority, 
on  my  card  from  the  duke. 

The  palace  is  a  magnificent  residence,  so  far 
exceeding  anything  of  the  kind  in  England  at  that 
time,  that  George  IV.  is  said  to  have  felt  offended 
when  invited  there,  because  his  own  residence  was 
shabby  in  comparison.  I  made  the  acquaintance  at 
Chatsworth  of  Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  who  the  follow- 
ing year  modeled  the  entire  glass  system  of  the 
first  Crystal  Palace  at  London.  I  was  to  see  some- 
thing of  the  Crystal  Palace  the  next  year. 

Six  years  after  this,  when  I  published  my  book. 
Young  America  Abroad,  I  sent  a  marked  copy  to 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  and  he  wrote  me  a  letter 
in  which  he  said :  "  I  am  an  old  man  now,  sixty- 
two,  but  I  have  not  forgotten  the  delightful  day 
when  I  met  you  on  the  Menai  Straits." 

One  day,  in  my  office  in  Liverpool,  I  received 

103 


MY  LIFE  IN  ]MAXY  STATES 

a  card  from  the  Secretary,  inviting  me  to  the 
exhibition  in  London,  and  Mr.  Riddle  of  Boston, 
who  was  then  on  his  way  to  London,  asked  me  to 
be  present  on  the  day  when  the  Queen  was  to  come, 
which  was  the  day  before  the  opening.  I  went  to 
London,  and  that  was  the  first  and  the  only  time  I 
ever  saw  Queen  Victoria.  She  was  with  Prince 
Albert,  and  they  were  accompanied,  I  remember, 
by  a  brilliant  staff. 

I  recall  an  incident  during  my  visit  to  Lon- 
don on  this  occasion  which  aptly  illustrates  the 
want  of  suggestiveness  on  the  part  of  Englishmen. 
They  are  content  to  go  along  in  old  ruts,  provided 
only  they  be  old  enough.  Frank  Fuller  was  the 
contractor  for  the  Crystal  Palace,  and  a  problem 
arose,  in  the  construction,  as  to  what  to  do  with  a 
certain  beautiful  and  aged  elm  that  had  been  an 
object  of  reverence  and  stood  in  the  way  of  the 
proposed  building.  It  had  finally  been  decided  to 
cut  it  down,  in  order  to  get  it  out  of  the  way. 

"  What !  "  said  I,  "  cut  it  down — this  exquisite 
tree?"  Some  one  remarked  that  the  authorities 
did  not  wish  to  cut  it  down,  but  it  stood  directly  in 
the  way  of  the  great  palace,  and  would  have  to  be 
sacrificed.  "  The  palace  is  here  for  time,"  I  said, 
"  and  this  tree  may  be  here  for  eternity.  Spare 
the  tree."  "But  how?"  they  asked.  They  were 
bewildered — did  not  have  a  thought  of  what  to  do, 
except  to  hew  down  the  venerable  tree.  "Build 
your   palace   around   it,"   I   said.     This    simple 

104 


PAKTNER  IX  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 

device  had  not  occurred  to  them,  but  it  saved  the 
elm. 

Mr.  Fuller  -vras  so  pleased  by  the  suggestion, 
that  he  began  asking  me  about  hotels  in  America, 
and  proposed  that  I  undertake  the  building  of  an 
American  hotel  in  London.  I  said  that  some  time 
I  should,  perhaps,  try  the  experiment,  but  that  for 
the  present  my  shipping  business  would  keep  me 
fully  occupied. 

I  might  as  well  mention  here,  although  it  is  not 
in  its  chronological  order,  my  later  experience  in 
trying  to  establish  an  American  hotel  in  London. 
It  was  seven  years  after  the  exhibition  when  the 
question  of  an  American  hotel  came  up  again.  I 
had  worked  up  the  plan  very  thoroughly,  and  had 
some  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  men 
in  England  as  directors  of  the  proposed  company. 
"We  had,  also,  obtained  options  on  several  acres  of 
desirable  land  in  the  Strand  as  a  site.  In  the 
board  of  directors  was  Lord  Bury,  private  secre- 
tary of  the  Queen,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Albemarle; 
Mark  Lemon,  of  Punch;  and  others.  The  only 
obstacle  to  our  success  was  the  passage  of  a  bill 
through  Parliament  authorizing  us  to  occupy  the 
land.  The  hotel  caused  a  great  sensation  in  Lon- 
don, and  there  was  much  talk  of  it  as  a  daring  and 
not  altogether  agreeable  invasion  of  England  by 
Americans.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  much 
commendation,  and  George  Augustus  Sala,  the 
leading  editorial  writer  of  the  Telegraph,  wrote  a 

105 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

letter  in  which  he  mentioned  my  name  as  a  guar- 
anty that  the  hotel  would  be  built  and  would  suc- 
ceed, as,  he  said,  I  had  succeeded  in  everything. 

Matters  were  well  advanced,  and  it  looked 
as  if  we  should  have  the  hotel.  I  wanted  it  con- 
structed along  distinctly  American  lines,  and  sent 
to  Paran  Stevens  to  get  from  him  the  plans  of  his 
three  hotels,  the  Revere  House  in  Boston,  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel  in  New  York,  and  the  Continental 
in  Philadelphia.  We  had  everything  in  readiness, 
when  the  news  came  that  the  bill  had  failed  in  the 
House  of  Lords  by  sixteen  votes,  although  the 
House  of  Commons  had  passed  it.  I  came  as  near 
as  that  to  building  the  first  American  hotel  in  Lon- 
don. Fifty  years  later,  the  Hotel  Cecil  was  built, 
a  half  century  after  I  had  suggested  the  idea  and 
perfected  the  plan. 

My  experience  in  Saratoga  had  revealed  to  me 
the  want  of  suggestiveness  and  resource  in  men  in 
general.  They  will  continue  doing  the  same  thing 
in  the  same  old  way  generation  after  generation, 
without  taking  thought  for  improving  methods  in 
the  interest  of  economy,  of  time,  and  of  money.  I 
have,  from  time  to  time,  suggested  a  large  number 
of  little  improvements,  mechanical  or  other  de- 
vices, for  which  I  have  never  taken  out  patents  or 
received  a  cent  of  profit  in  any  way.  I  shall  bring 
together  here  a  few  of  these  suggestions,  made  at 
different  times  and  in  different  countries. 

I  used  to  go  to  the  old  cider-mill  at  Piper's, 

106 


PARTNER  IN  THE  LIVERPOOL  HOUSE 


about  a  half  mile  from  our  farm.  We  went  in  an 
ox-cart,  filled  with  apples.  When  we  got  to  the 
cider-mill,  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  pull  out  a  peg, 
and  the  apples  would  roll  out  into  the  hopper  of 
the  mill. 

When  I  came  to  New  York  years  afterward  I 
was  astonished  to  notice  that  there  were  a  half- 
dozen  men  around  every  coal-cart,  unloading  the 
coal.  I  thought  of  the  ox-cart,  the  peg,  and  the 
hopper,  which  I  had  used  thirty  years  before.  I 
suggested  the  use  of  a  device  for  letting  the  coal 
run  from  the  cart  into  the  cellar,  but  could  not  get 
any  one  to  listen  to  the  proposition.  Now,  years 
after  my  suggestion,  all  of  these  carts  in  New 
York  and  other  large  cities  of  America  have  small 
scoops  running  from  the  cart  to  the  coal-hole,  and 
a  single  man  unloads  the  cart  by  winding  a  wind- 
lass and  lifting  the  front  end  of  the  wagon.  In 
London  they  still  keep  up  the  old,  clumsy,  and  ex- 
pensive method  of  unloading  with  sacks.  The 
English  are  in  some  things  where  we  were  a  cen- 
tury ago. 

Once  in  London  I  was  astonished  to  see  a  man, 
after  writing  something  with  a  lead-pencil,  search 
through  his  pockets  for  a  piece  of  india-rubber 
with  which  to  erase  an  error.  He  had  lost  it,  and 
could  only  smudge  the  paper  by  marking  out  what 
he  had  written.  I  said  to  him :  "  TNHiy  don't  you 
attach  the  rubber  to  the  pencil?  Then  you  couldn't 
lose  it."  He  jumped  at  my  suggestion,  took  out  a 
®  107 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

patent  for  the  rubber  attacbment  to  pencils,  and 
made  money. 

When  Rowland  Hill,  the  great  Englisb  postal 
reformer,  introduced  penny-postage  into  England, 
he  found  it  necessary  to  employ  many  girls  to  clip 
oif  the  stamps  from  great  sheets.  I  took  a  sheet 
of  paper  to  him,  and  showed  him  how  easy  it 
would  be  by  perforation  to  tear  off  the  stamps  as 
needed.  He  adopted  my  idea;  and  now  a  single 
machine  does  the  whole  work. 

I  noticed  one  day  in  England  a  lot  of  "flun- 
keys "  rushing  up  to  the  carriages  of  titled  ladies 
and  busying  themselves  adjusting  steps,  which 
were  separate  from  the  carriage,  and  had  been 
taken  along  with  great  inconvenience.  I  said  to 
myself,  why  not  have  the  steps  attached?  and  I 
spoke  about  the  idea  to  others.  It  was  taken  up, 
and  carried  out.  Now  every  carriage  has  steps 
attached  as  a  part  of  the  structure. 

In  '50,  I  was  with  James  McHenry  in  Liver- 
pool, and  in  trying  to  pour  some  ink  from  a  bottle 
into  the  ink-well,  the  bottle  was  upset,  and  the  ink 
spilled  all  over  the  desk.  This  was  because  too 
much  ink  came  from  the  mouth.  "  Give  the  bottle 
a  nose,  like  a  milk  pitcher,"  I  said ;  "  then  you  can 
pour  the  ink  into  the  well  easily."  Holden,  of 
Liverpool,  took  up  the  idea,  and  patented  it,  and 
made  a  fortune  out  of  it. 


108 


CHAPTER   IX 

MY    COURTSHIP    AND    MARRIAGE — RETURN    TO 

LIVERPOOL 

1850-1852 

'After  the  first  short  stay  in  Saratoga  during 
my  vacation  trip  in  America,  I  had  started  for  a 
journey  West;  and  was  soon  to  meet  with  an  ex- 
perience that  turned  the  current  of  my  life.  At 
Syracuse  I  saw  a  half  dozen  students  talking  to  a 
lovely  girl,  bidding  her  good-by.  Her  appearance 
struck  me  in  a  peculiar  way.  I  turned  to  Alfredo 
Ward,  who,  with  his  wife,  was  traveling  with  me, 
they  having  just  come  from  Valparaiso,  Chili. 
"  Look  at  that  girl  with  the  curls,"  said  I.  "  Do 
you  know  her?  "  he  asked.  "  I  never  saw  her  be- 
fore," I  answered,  "  but  she  shall  be  my  wife." 

I  was  quite  ready  to  abandon  the  remainder  of 
my  Western  trip,  to  get  an  opportunity  to  meet 
this  girl.  Taking  my  grip  up  hurriedly,  I  rushed 
over  to  the  train  she  was  on,  supposing  she  was 
going  to  New  York.  I  soon  discovered  that  she 
was  going  the  other  way,  and  ran  through  in  my 
mind  the  chances  I  could  take,  the  risks  I  could 

109 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

run,  and  so  took  an  opportunity  by  the  throat.  I 
knew  that  I  was  not  compelled  to  leave  Boston  un- 
til July  25,  and  so  I  had  ample  time  to  get  to  my 
ship. 

I  entered  the  car  where  the  girl  was,  and  found 
a  vacant  seat  opposite  her.  An  elderly  gentleman 
was  with  her,  whom  I  took  to  be  her  father.  I 
selected  the  seat  opposite  with  the  deliberate  pur- 
pose of  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  pair  at  the 
first  opportunity  that  occurred  or  that  I  could 
create. 

My  chance  came  sooner  than  I  expected.  The 
elderly  gentleman  tried  to  raise  the  sash  of  the 
window,  and  could  not  move  it;  it  had,  as  usual, 
stuck  fast.  I  sprang  lightly  and  very  quickly 
across  the  aisle  and  said,  "  Permit  me  to  assist 
you,"  and  adding  my  youthful  strength  to  his, 
raised  the  window.  Both  he  and  the  young  lady 
thanked  me.  The  old  gentleman  went  further  and 
asked  me  to  take  the  seat  directly  opposite  him 
and  the  young  lady,  on  the  same  side  of  the  car. 
I  did  so,  and  we  entered  into  conversation  imme- 
diately. I  continued  my  speculations  as  to  the 
relationship  that  existed  between  them.  The  gen- 
tleman seemed  rather  elderly  for  her  husband,  and 
she  too  young  to  be  married  at  all.  He  did  not  look 
exactly  as  if  he  were  her  father. 

Before  I  could  determine  this  question  for  my- 
self, he  came  to  my  assistance,  and  told  me  the 
young  lady  was  the  daughter  of  Colonel  George 

110 


Mrs.   George  Francis  Train. 

From  ;i  iihiit(iL'rai>li. 


MY  COUKTSHIP  AND  MAEKIAGE 


T.  M.  Davis,  who  was  captain  and  aide-de-camp, 
under  General  Scott,  in  the  Mexican  War,  and 
afterward  chief  clerk  in  the  War  Department  at 
Washington.  He  introduced  himself  as  Dr.  Wal- 
lace, and  said  that  he  was  taking  Miss  Davis  to 
her  home  in  the  West.  I  also  learned  that  they 
were  going  to  Oswego,  where  they  would  take  a 
boat.  I  immediately  exclaimed  that  I,  also,  was 
going  in  that  direction,  and  was  delighted  to  know 
we  should  he  fellow  passengers.  In  such  mat- 
ters— for  love  is  like  war — quickness  of  deci- 
sion is  everything.  I  would  have  gone  in  any 
direction,  if  only  I  could  remain  her  fellow  pas- 
senger. 

And  so  we  arrived  at  Niagara  Falls  together. 
Dr.  Wallace  was  kind  enough  to  permit  me  to  es- 
cort his  charge  about  the  Falls,  and  I  was  foolish 
enough  to  do  several  risky  things,  in  a  sort  of  half- 
conscious  desire  to  appear  brave — the  last  infir- 
mity of  the  mind  of  a  lover.  I  went  under  the  Falls 
and  clambered  about  in  all  sorts  of  dangerous 
places,  in  an  intoxication  of  love.  It  was  the  same 
old  story,  only  with  the  difference  that  our  love 
was  mutually  discovered  and  confessed  amid  the 
roaring  accompaniment  of  the  great  cataract.  We 
were  at  the  Falls  forty-eight  hours,  and  before  we 
left  we  were  betrothed. 

Soon  afterward  I  sailed  for  London,  as  already 
set  forth.  It  was  not  till  '51  that  I  came  back  to 
[America,  principally  for  the  purpose  of  marry- 
Ill 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

ing  Miss  Davis  and  taking  her  back  to  England 
with  me. 

I  arrived  in  Boston  shortly  before  the  celebra- 
tion of  Bunker  Hill  Day,  which  was  always  a  great 
occasion  in  that  city.  General  John  S.  Tyler  was 
grand-marshal  of  the  day,  and  he  appointed  me 
one  of  his  aides.  It  was  a  time  when  young  people 
were  usually  left  out  of  all  public  business  ar- 
rangements. Only  the  middle-aged  or  old  took 
part  in  anything  of  the  spectacular  nature  in  this 
great  parade.  Probably  I  attracted  a  great  deal 
of  attention,  therefore,  because  of  my  youth,  being 
then  only  twenty-one. 

In  truth,  I  felt  a  little  flattered  by  the  appoint- 
ment, and  determined  to  make  as  good  a  show  as 
possible.  Having  been  born  and  reared  on  a  farm, 
I  knew  how  to  ride,  so  I  got  the  stableman  to  give 
me  the  finest  stepper  he  could  furnish.  He  found 
a  beautiful  animal,  with  a  frolicsome  spirit,  and 
I  felt  that  I  should  prove  at  least  a  good  part  of 
the  exhibition.  I  was  decked  in  a  flowing  red, 
white,  and  blue  sash  that  swept  below  the  saddle- 
girths,  and  my  horse  was  a  proud-looking  and 
dainty-paced  beast.  With  a  little  rehearsing  of  my 
part,  I  was  fully  prepared. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  parade,  I  am  quite  sure, 
I  was  the  observed  of  many  observers.  The  spec- 
tators were  let  into  the  mystery  of  the  beautiful 
caracoling  and  dancing  of  my  horse,  whom  I 
touched  occasionally  with  the  spur  in  a  particular 

112 


MY  COURTSHIP  AND   MARRIAGE 


way,  and  who  acquitted  himself  with  great  credit. 
The  populace  thought  he  was  trying  to  unseat  me, 
or  to  run  away,  and  that  it  was  only  by  excellent 
horsemanship  that  I  was  able  to  hold  my  seat  and 
look  like  a  centaur.  I  am  ashamed  to  say,  at  this 
far  distance  in  retrospect,  that  it  was  a  proud  mo- 
ment for  me,  and  that  I  took  so  much  pleasure  in 
so  idle  and  empty  a  show.  But  youth  must  be 
served. 

I  had  charge  of  the  Colonial  Governors,  who 
were  the  guests  of  the  city,  and  of  the  President, 
and  I  escorted  them  from  Boston  to  Charlestown. 
There  were  Sir  John  A.  MacDonald,  of  Canada; 
Governor  Tilly,  of  New  Brunswick;  the  Honor- 
able Joseph  Howe,  ex-Governor  of  Nova  Scotia; 
and  Millard  Fillmore,  President  of  the  United 
States.  President  Fillmore  and  Sir  John  Mac- 
Donald  rode  on  the  back  seat  of  the  first  carriage, 
and  Howe  and  Tilly  on  the  front  seat.  Somehow, 
Boston  seemed  to  regard  the  colonial  oflScials  as 
equal  to,  if  not  a  little  better  than  the  President. 
I  suppose  this  was  because  of  the  sentiment  of 
Bunker  Hill,  and  because  the  presence  of  British 
representatives  was  a  matter  of  pride  and  gratifi- 
cation. 

But  the  day  was  to  end  in  gloom.  As  I  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  gaiety  and  at  the  height  of  my 
exultation,  a  messenger  handed  me  a  despatch.  I 
tore  it  open,  and  found  that  it  was  from  a  friend  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  and  contained  a  warning.     Miss 

113 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Davis,  to  whom  I  was  betrothed,  lived  in  Louis- 
ville, and  I  was  soon  to  marry  her  there.  The 
telegram  urged  me  to  hasten  my  journey,  as  the 
report  of  the  coming  marriage  had  created  a  great 
deal  of  bad  feeling.  My  friend  advised  me  to  lay 
aside  everything  and  go  to  Louisville  with  all  pos- 
sible despatch. 

I  could  not  imagine,  at  first,  what  this  meant. 
It  seemed  to  convey  only  some  presage  of  dis- 
aster. I  left  the  gay  scenes  of  the  parade  and  hur- 
ried to  my  room  at  the  hotel.  There  I  made  in- 
stant preparation  for  a  trip  to  Louisville. 

Before  leaving  Boston,  however,  I  learned 
what  it  was  that  had  caused  my  friend  in  Louis- 
ville so  much  concern.  Some  time  before,  there 
had  been  a  marriage  of  a  Kentucky  girl  with  a 
Northerner — the  much-talked  of  wedding  of  Bige- 
low  Lawrence  and  Miss  Sallie  Ward.  It  had 
aroused  a  great  deal  of  bitter  feeling,  because  of 
the  increasing  tension  and  friction  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  This  was  none  of  my 
affair;  nor  did  I  share  the  feeling  on  either  side. 
Indeed,  at  that  time,  I  knew  little  and  cared  less 
about  the  sectional  differences  between  the  North 
and  South.  The  only  interest  I  had  in  the  South 
at  that  time  was  a  commercial  one  in  our  shipping 
business,  and  the  more  personal  interest  attaching 
to  that  portion  of  the  South  that  held  my  future 
wife. 

My  own  approaching  marriage  to  Miss  Davis 

114 


]VIY  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE 

had,  it  seems,  been  regarded  as  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  arouse  the  same  feeling  that  had  been 
created  by  the  Lawrence- Ward  marriage.  My 
friends  were  manifesting  much  solicitude.  What 
most  alarmed  them  was  the  fact  that  a  number  of 
gallant  Kentuckians  were  trying  to  marry  Miss 
Davis  themselves,  and  thus  patriotically  save  her 
for  the  South.  Among  these  patriots  were  Sen- 
ator James  Shields,  Mexican  hero  of  Belleville, 
111.,  Lieutenant  Merriman  of  the  navj'-,  and  an 
officer  of  the  army.  There  was,  also,  a  suitor 
from  my  side  of  the  line — "  Ned "  Baker,  of 
Springfield,  111.,  who  was  afterward  United  States 
consul-general  at  Montevideo.  In  her  letters 
to  me  she  had  mentioned  all  of  these  gentle- 
men, but  I  was  not  particularly  anxious  about  the 
matter,  feeling  that  there  was  safety  in  numbers. 
But  now  that  my  friends  were  interesting  them- 
selves, I  thought  it  full  time  that  I  should  be  look- 
ing after  affairs  myself. 

I  was  doomed  to  suffer  from  the  inconsistency 
of  woman.  When  I  reached  Louisville  I  wrote  to 
her,  mentioning  the  reports  sent  me  by  friends. 
This  angered  her.  She  became  indignant  because 
I  had  taken  any  notice  of  these  rumors,  and  re- 
fused to  see  me  on  that  day.  But  on  the  following 
day  she  was  in  a  milder  mood,  ready  to  see  me. 
This  meeting  put  to  rest  forever  all  doubts,  suspi- 
cions, and  jealousies,  and  my  fears  melted  into 
thin  air. 

115 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

But  for  all  this,  I  was  determined  to  take  no 
further  chances  with  three  or  four  rivals,  and  de- 
cided that  I  should  not  again  leave  my  affianced 
bride  behind  me.  I  insisted  upon  an  immediate 
ceremony,  and  we  were  married  by  the  rector  of 
the  Episcopal  church  in  Louisville,  October  5, 
*51.  Her  father.  Colonel  George  T.  M.  Davis, 
was  then  editor  of  Haldeman's  Louisville  Courier. 
Belle  Key,  the  famous  Kentucky  beauty,  whose 
sister,  Annie  Key,  married  Matthew  Ward,  who 
killed  a  Kentuckian  in  a  duel,  was  my  wife's 
bridesmaid,  and  Sylvanus  J.  Macey,  son  of  Wil- 
liam H.  Macey,  was  groomsman.  My  wife  was 
only  seventeen  years  old.  She  was  very  beautiful. 
Her  picture  appeared  in  the  Book  of  Beauty  the 
following  year. 

We  came  east  from  Louisville  on  our  wedding 
journey,  stopping  at  Cincinnati,  where  I  had  a 
curious  experience.  The  Burnett  House  was  the 
most  popular  hotel  in  the  city  at  that  time,  and 
we  stayed  there.  It  had  just  fitted  up  the  first 
"  bridal  chamber  "  in  this  country,  if  not  in  the 
world.  Every  little  hotel  has  one  now;  but  then 
such  a  thing  was  unheard  of,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  ascertain.  At  any  rate,  Mr.  Drake,  the 
clerk,  asked  me  if  I  did  not  wish  to  take  the  "  bri- 
dal chamber."  He  told  me  it  was  the  only  one  in 
the  world.  As  I  was  ever  keen  and  ready  for  a 
novelty,  I  replied  that  of  course  I  would. 

I  had  already  been  in  a  great  many  hotels  in 

116 


MY  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE 

this  country.  The  prevailing  rate  of  charge  was 
about  $2  a  day,  at  that  time.  I  supposed  that  this 
splendid  room  would  cost  a  little  more,  being  a 
special  apartment — perhaps  about  $5  a  day.  It 
cost  $15 !  But  I  was  willing  to  pay  for  the  honor 
of  occupying  the  first  "  bridal  chamber "  in  the 
world. 

From  Cincinnati,  we  came  directly  on  to  Bos- 
ton, and  stayed  at  the  Winthrop  House,  where  I 
had  been  before.  I  soon  had  a  conference  with 
the  Boston  house  which  I  represented,  and  it  was 
determined  that  I  should  return  to  Liverpool  and 
resume  charge  of  the  branch  there,  but  in  some- 
what different  and  better  circumstances.  I  re- 
turned in  '52.  The  ship  we  sailed  on  was  the 
Daniel  Webster,  built  by  Donald  Mackay  in  East 
Boston,  and  which  I  had  named  in  special  honor 
of  my  friend,  the  great  Daniel.  Captain  Howard 
was  in  command. 

The  trip  was  destined  to  be  eventful.  Five 
days  after  leaving  Boston  we  ran  into  a  heavy 
gale  from  the  west.  Our  boat  was  very  sturdy, 
and  we  had  no  fears,  but  I  knew  that  many  smaller 
and  less  seaworthy  ships  would  suffer  in  such  a 
driving  storm.  We  were,  therefore,  on  the  look- 
out for  vessels  in  distress. 

For  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  during  the 
height  of  the  gale,  I  stood  on  the  bridge  close- 
ly scanning  the  horizon  line  in  front.  Suddenly 
something  seemed  to  rise  and  assume  form  out 

117 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY   STATES 

of  the  storm-wrack,  and  this  gradually  grew  into 
the  shape  of  a  vessel.  I  saw  that  it  was  a  wreck, 
shouted  to  the  captain,  but  he,  looking  in  the  di- 
rection, could  make  out  nothing.  My  eyes  seemed 
to  be  better  than  his,  although  his  had  been  trained 
by  long  practise  at  sea.  He  could  not  see  much 
better  when  he  got  his  glasses  turned  in  the  direc- 
tion I  indicated,  but  finally  he  discovered  the  ves- 
sel, though  he  did  not  seem  desirous  of  leaving  his 
present  course  to  offer  assistance. 

I  insisted  that  we  should  go  to  the  rescue  of 
the  ship  and  her  crew,  and  he  turned  and  said: 
"  Mr.  Train,  we  sea  captains  are  prevented  from 
going  to  the  rescue  of  vessels,  or  from  leaving  our 
course,  by  the  insurance  companies.  We  should 
forfeit  our  policy  in  the  event  of  being  lost  or 
damaged." 

"  Let  me  decide  that,"  said  I.  "  We  can  not 
do  otherwise  than  go  to  the  assistance  of  these 
persons."  And  we  went.  The  Webster  bore 
swiftly  down  upon  the  wreck,  which  proved  to  be 
in  worse  plight  than  I  had  imagined.  She  was 
buifeted  about  by  the  waves,  and  seemed  in  peril 
of  going  down  at  any  moment.  Men  and  women 
were  clinging  to  her  rigging,  hanging  over  her 
sides,  and  trying  to  get  spars  and  timbers  on  which 
to  entrust  themselves  to  the  sea.  The  doomed 
vessel  was  the  Unicorn,  from  an  Irish  port,  bound 
for  St.  John's,  N.  B.,  with  passengers  and  railway 
iron.    This  iron  had  been  the  cause  of  the  wreck, 

118 


MY  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE 

for  in  the  rough  weather  it  had  broken  away  from 
its  fastenings,  or  "  shipped,"  as  the  sailors  express 
it,  and  had  broken  holes  in  the  sides  of  the  boat 
and  overweighted  it  on  one  side. 

A  brig  that  had  sighted  the  Unicorn  before  we 
came  up  had  taken  off  a  few  of  the  passengers — 
as  many  as  it  could  accommodate.  The  Unicorn 
was  a  small  vessel,  and  there  seemed  little  chance 
for  the  rest  of  the  passengers  unless  we  could 
reach  them.  The  sea  was  running  very  swift  and 
high,  and  it  was  not  possible  to  bring  the  Webster 
close  to  the  side  of  the  Unicorn.  To  make  matters 
worse,  the  sailors  had  found  that  there  was  whisky 
in  the  cargo,  and  in  their  desperation,  drank  it 
without  restraint.  They  were,  consequently,  un- 
manageable. They  could  not  help  us  to  assist  the 
miserable  passengers  on  their  own  boat. 

There  was  nothing  else  to  be  done  except  to 
get  into  our  small  boats  and  try  to  save  as  many 
passengers  as  possible.  The  captain  got  into  one 
boat  and  I  into  another,  and  we  were  rowed  to  the 
side  of  the  Unicorn.  There  we  discovered  that 
many  had  already  perished.  Dead  bodies  were 
floating  in  the  sea  about  the  ship.  We  tried  to  get 
up  close  enough  to  reach  the  passengers,  but  found 
it  impossible. 

"  Throw  the  passengers  into  the  sea,"  I  shout- 
ed to  the  captain  of  the  Unicorn,  "  and  we  will  pick 
them  up.  We  can't  get  up  to  you."  In  this  way, 
the  crew  of  the  Unicorn  throwing  men  and  women 

119 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

into  the  sea,  and  our  boats  picking  them  up,  we 
succeeded  in  saving  two  hundred.  All  the  rest — ^I 
do  not  know  how  many — were  drowned.  We  final- 
ly got  these  two  hundred  persons  safely  on  board 
the  Daniel  Webster. 

Here  we  discovered  other  difficulties,  and  it 
seemed,  for  a  time,  as  if  starvation  might  do  the 
work  that  had  been  denied  to  the  waves.  There 
was,  also,  the  question  of  accommodations ;  but  we 
solved  this  problem  by  taking  some  of  our  extra 
sails  and  tarpaulin  and  rigging  up  a  protection  for 
them  on  the  deck  and  in  the  hold,  so  that  we  made 
them  all  fairly  comfortable.  The  problem  of  food 
was  far  more  difficult.  We  simply  had  no  food, 
the  captain  said.  There  was  hardly  more  than 
enough  for  the  crew  and  passengers  of  our  own 
vessel,  as  the  delay  caused  by  the  rescue  and  the 
departure  from  our  course  had  made  an  extra  de- 
mand upon  supplies. 

Here  a  happy  thought  occurred  to  me.  We 
happened  to  be  carrying  a  cargo  of  corn-meal.  I 
had  heard  that  the  Irish,  in  one  of  their  famines, 
had  been  fed  with  corn-meal,  learning  to  eat  and 
even  to  like  it. 

"  Open  the  hatches ! "  I  cried,  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  philosopher  who  cried  "  Eureka." 
The  problem  of  food  was  soon  solved.  Two  of  the 
barrels  were  cut  in  half,  making  four  tubs.  From 
the  staves  of  other  barrels  we  made  spoons,  and 
from  the  meal  we  made  mush  which  the  half- 

120 


MY  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE 

starved  men,  women,  and  children  ate  with  great 
relish.  They  lived  on  it  until  we  got  them  safely 
landed  on  English  soil,  the  entire  two  hundred 
persons  reaching  port  without  the  loss  of  a  single 
soul. 

This  was  my  first  service  at  a  rescue,  and,  of 
course,  I  was  proud  of  it.  Captain  Howard  re- 
ceived a  handsome  medal  from  the  Life  Saving 
Society  of  England,  and  the  incident  greatly  in- 
creased the  reputation  of  our  packets. 

On  arriving  at  Liverpool,  we  went  to  No.  153 
Duke  Street,  a  house  then  kept  by  Mrs.  Blodgett, 
whose  husband  saw  service  as  consul  in  Spain. 
This  house  was  at  that  time  the  favorite  resort  of 
American  sea  captains  and  shipping  men,  and  was 
a  sort  of  central  point  for  all  Americans  in  Liver- 
pool. John  Alfred  Marsh,  who  had  been  with  us 
in  Boston,  was  with  me  in  Liverpool  at  this  time, 
in  the  branch  of  our  house  there;  and  I  think  he 
is  the  only  man  living  among  all  of  my  friends  of 
that  year.  He  is  now  connected  with  the  Guion 
Line  steamships. 

During  the  first  year  in  Liverpool  after  my 
marriage,  I  had  a  peculiar  and  interesting  expe- 
rience with  the  science  of  phrenology.  At  that 
time  every  one  was  talking  about  its  "  revela- 
tions," and  I  became  somewhat  interested  in  it. 
My  interest  came  chiefly,  however,  through  James 
McHenry,  whose  line  of  ships  to  Philadelphia  I 
had  charge  of.    He  suggested  one  day  that  I  go 

121 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

to  a  phrenologist,  saying  that  I  had  a  most  curi- 
ous head.  Up  to  this  time,  I  had  not  taken  any 
stock  in  the  science,  which  I  set  down  as  charla- 
tanry and  mountebankism.  But  he  insisted,  and 
finally  I  consented  to  go  with  him  to  Bridges,  then 
the  most  famous  phrenologist  in  Liverpool  or  in 
the  west  of  England. 

Bridges  astonished  me  so  greatly  by  telling  me 
things  about  myself  that  I  had  supposed  no  one 
knew  but  I,  that  my  interest  was  awakened. 
Still  I  thought  there  must  be  something  queer 
about  the  thing,  and  I  accused  McHenry  of  having 
told  Bridges  something  about  me  beforehand  so 
that  I  might  be  taken  by  surprise.  McHenry  so 
vehemently  denied  this  that  I  knew  he  was  telling 
me  the  truth.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to 
accept  the  "  chart "  of  Bridges  as  being  at  least 
sincere. 

As  I  like  to  investigate  everything  for  myself, 
I  determined  to  see  what  there  was  in  phrenology, 
and  to  have  my  head  examined  in  circumstances 
where  there  could  be  no  question  that  the  phre- 
nologist had  had  any  information  about  me.  So 
I  went  to  London,  and  there  consulted  a  still 
more  famous  phrenologist,  the  octogenarian  Dono- 
van. I  said  to  him :  "  Mr.  Donovan,  I  want  you 
to  tell  me  the  plain  truth  about  my  head."  "  Phre- 
nology does  not  lie,"  he  said.  "  Put  down  your 
guinea." 

I  put  down  the  guinea,  and  submitted  to  an  ex- 

122 


MY  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE 


amination. '  He  told  me  almost  the  same  things 
that  Bridges  had  said,  and  thus  confirmed  the  first 
chart  of  my  head.  After  finishing  his  examination, 
Donovan  looked  at  me  and  said:  "You  will  be 
either  a  great  reformer,  or  a  great  pirate.  It 
merely  depends  upon  the  direction  you  take  in 
Ethics ! " 

Even  this  examination  did  not  entirely  satisfy 
me.  There  were  still  higher  authorities  in  phre- 
nology, and  I  felt  that  I  should  not  be  satisfied  until 
I  had  the  verdict  of  the  highest  court  of  appeals. 
I  consulted  every  phrenologist  I  could  reach — a 
great  professor  in  Paris,  another  from  Germany, 
and  finally,  I  reached  the  highest  authority  then 
living,  the  highest  that  has  ever  lived,  possibly, 
the  great  Dr.  Fowler,  who  was  then  lecturing  in 
England. 

He  came  to  Liverpool  to  lecture,  and  I  went  to 
hear  him.  Fowler  asked  for  some  one  from  the 
audience  to  allow  him  to  examine  his  head.  As  he 
had  never  seen  me,  I  felt  that  I  could  in  this  way 
get  an  absolutely  impartial  and  unprejudiced  read- 
ing. I  went  on  the  stage,  and  my  appearance 
caused  a  ripple  of  surprise,  for  I  was  known  in 
Liverpool.  The  phrenologist  placed  his  hands  on 
my  head  and  exclaimed :  "  Jehu,  what  a  head  I " 
The  audience  applauded,  as  if  they  thought  I  had 
a  head,  and  had  used  it  to  good  purpose  in  their 
city. 

Beverley  Tucker  was  American  consul  in  Liv- 
10  123 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

erpool  at  that  time,  having  been  appointed  by 
President  Pierce.  When  the  famous  actor  and 
dramatist,  John  Brougham,  visited  Liverpool,  I 
suggested  that  we  Americans,  in  whose  country 
Brougham  had  lived  and  done  his  best  work, 
should  entertain  him  at  a  dinner  at  the  Waterloo 
House.  We  had  a  large  and  lively  company  pres- 
ent, and  Brougham  was  in  his  best  vein.  I  asked 
Brougham  for  his  autograph,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  something  about  the  poet  Willis,  who  was 
then  our  favorite  American  poet.  He  gave  me 
instantly,  without  apparent  thought,  the  following 
verse : 

'*  Hyperion  curls  his  forehead  on, 
Behold  the  poet  Willis  1 
For  love  of  such  a  Corydon, 
Who  would  not  be  a  Phyllis  ? " 

Thus  have  I  narrated,  in  this  and  the  previous 
chapters,  the  most  interesting  events  and  expe- 
riences of  my  life  in  Liverpool.  The  life  there 
was  particularly  varied  and  altogether  delightful. 
It  was,  of  course,  a  very  busy  time,  but  I  managed 
to  get  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  out  of  it.  There 
was  a  constant  round  of  entertainments,  and  the 
social  life  of  the  city  was  generally  gay  and  in- 
teresting. At  this  period  I  had  two  portraits  of 
my  wife  and  myself  made.  They  are  now  in  the 
possession  of  my  daughter,  who  keeps  them  in  the 
room  which  she  always  has  ready  for  me  in  the 
country. 

124 


MY  COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE 

As  for  my  standing  in  the  city,  I  may  give  here 
the  opinion  of  Charles  Mackay,  the  poet,  author 
of  Cheer,  Boys,  Cheer,  and  other  well-known 
poems,  who  wrote,  in  reviewing  my  book.  Young 
America  in  Wall  Street,  that  I  "  walked  up  the 
Liverpool  Exchange  like  a  Baring  or  a  Roths- 
child." I  remained  in  Liverpool  one  year  with  my 
wife,  and  then  returned  to  the  United  States. 
This  was  in  '52.  The  best  men  of  Liverpool  had 
made  me  welcome  everywhere,  in  all  circles  of 
business  or  of  society. 


125 


CHAPTER   X 

BUSINESS   SUCCESS   IN  AUSTRALIA 
1853-1855 

My  wife  and  I  in  returning  to  Boston  came  on 
a  visit  that  we  expected  to  be  brief.  I  confidently 
supposed  I  should  go  back  to  Liverpool  and  con- 
tinue the  business  of  the  branch  house.  But  this 
was  not  to  be.  Instead,  I  was  soon  to  make  a  far 
wider  departure  in  business  fields  and  methods, 
and  to  try  my  fortune  at  another  end  of  the  earth. 

When  I  arrived  in  Boston,  I  had  a  conference 
with  Colonel  Train  about  conditions  in  England, 
and  suggested  to  him  that  I  should  have  a  part- 
nership interest  in  the  Boston  house,  as  well  as  in 
the  house  in  Liverpool.  To  my  surprise,  Colonel 
Train  was  not  only  astonished,  but  indignant.  He 
could  not  understand  how  I  had  pushed  ahead  so 
rapidly,  and  this  swift  advance  was  by  no  means 
pleasant  to  him.  He  felt  that,  in  some  way,  I  was 
pushing  him  out  of  his  place. 

"Would  you  ride  over  me  roughshod?"  he 
asked,  almost  fiercely,  when  I  ventured  to  suggest 
a  larger  partnership  interest.     I  replied  that  I 

126 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTRALIA 

thought  I  had  given  full  value  for  everything  that 
the  house  had  done  for  me,  and  that  I  should  be 
able  to  do  so  in  the  future.  After  some  further 
discussion,  in  which  the  old  gentleman  was  molli- 
fied, the  matter  was  arranged.  I  received  a  part- 
nership interest  that  was  equal  to  $15,000  a  year — 
and  I  was  only  twenty-two  years  old  at  the  time. 

As  soon  as  the  contract  was  signed,  and  it  was 
in  my  hand,  I  said — because  I  was  still  nettled  by 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  received  my  sugges- 
tion of  a  partnership — "  Colonel,  as  you  do  not 
seem  to  care  to  take  me  into  the  firm,  here  is  your 
contract " ;  and  I  tore  it  in  two  and  handed  him 
the  pieces.    "  I  am  going  to  Australia." 

This  cool  announcement  astonished  him.  He 
did  not  know  what  to  do.  Finally,  we  came  to 
tenns.  It  was  decided  that  I  should  go  to  Mel- 
bourne to  start  my  own  house  with  Captain  Cald- 
well, one  of  our  oldest  ship-captains,  the  house 
to  be  known  as  "  Caldwell,  Train  &  Co."  It  was 
Colonel  Train's  view  that  this  elderly  man  would 
act  as  a  check  upon  my  youthful  rashness,  he  hav- 
ing no  interest  in  the  firm  but  good-will  toward 
me  and  one  of  his  captains. 

The  arrangements  once  completed,  I  was  eager 
to  be  about  my  work  in  the  antipodes,  and  pre- 
pared to  sail  at  the  first  opportunity.  Everything 
was  taken  from  Boston — clerks,  sets  of  books, 
business  forms,  etc.  Nothing  was  left  to  the 
chance  of  finding  or  getting  in  Australia  the  ma- 

127 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

terial  that  we  might  need.  And  so  the  new  house 
of  "  Caldwell,  Train  &  Co."  sailed  away  from  Bos- 
ton on  the  Plymouth  Rock  for  Melbourne,  Austra- 
lia, on  a  singularly  audacious  venture. 

Captain  Caldwell  went  out  in  charge  of  the 
clerks,  while  I  was  to  go  by  a  different  route  a 
little  later.  I  went  to  New  York  and  took  passage 
from  there  in  the  old  Whitlock  Havre  packet,  Ba- 
varia, Captain  Bailey.  I  had  two  clerks  with  me, 
and  carried,  also,  a  large  amount  of  office  supplies 
in  duplicate.  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.  had  ap- 
pointed me  their  agent  for  the  purchase  of  gold  in 
Melbourne,  which  was  to  be  shipped  to  London  or 
New  York  as  circumstances  permitted,  and  I  had 
also  been  appointed  by  the  Boston  underwriters 
their  agent  to  represent  them  in  the  South  Seas. 
The  outlook  for  business  seemed  especially  bright. 

I  have  traveled  a  great  deal  since  that  time,  but 
this  was  the  longest  period  I  have  ever  been  on 
a  ship  in  a  single  voyage.  We  were  ninety-two 
days  from  New  York  to  Melbourne.  I  have  twice 
since  gone  entirely  around  the  world  in  less  time. 
It  was  very  dreary  at  times,  and  I  had  to  resort 
to  all  manner  of  things  in  order  to  pass  the  hours. 
These  attempted  diversions  were  often  very 
amusing. 

I  have  always  wanted  to  do  things  a  little  dif- 
ferently from  others,  partly  because  it  has  been 
more  interesting  to  do  them  in  a  novel  manner,  but 
chiefly  because  I  have  found  that  a  better  way  than 

128 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTRALIA 


the  accepted  one  could  be  found.  My  desire  for 
novelty  led  me  to  do  some  curious  things  during 
this  long  and  tedious  voyage  to  Melbourne.  One 
day  I  was  looking  at  the  porpoises  playing  about 
the  ship's  bows,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  could 
harpoon  one  of  them.  I  asked  the  captain  if  he 
had  a  harpoon,  and  he  brought  me  one.  I  then  had 
a  rope  tied  fast  about  me,  so  that  I  could  be  low- 
ered over  the  bow.  I  had  a  good  chance  and  let 
fly  the  harpoon,  and,  as  luck  would  have  it,  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  fine  porpoise.  My  successful 
throw  astonished  every  one — myself  more  than 
any.  The  porpoise  was  brought  aboard,  and  we 
found  portions  of  it  very  good  eating. 

On  another  day  I  hooked  a  shark,  a  "  man- 
eater,"  ten  feet  long,  and  this,  also,  was  brought 
aboard,  but  no  one  proposed  to  eat  it.  A  little 
later  we  passed  into  the  zone  of  the  albatrosses, 
and  myriads  of  these  exquisite  birds  flew  over  or 
hovered  above  the  ship.  I  was  desirous  to  have 
one  of  them,  and  resorted  to  stratagems  learned 
years  ago  in  the  days  when  I  used  to  snare  rab- 
bits and  net  pigeons  on  the  old  farm  in  New  Eng- 
land. I  baited  a  hook  with  pork,  and  threw  it  out 
upon  the  water.  Instantly  a  great  albatross 
swooped  down  upon  it  and  swallowed  the  bait.  I 
drew  the  bird  on  board,  and  found  it  a  magnificent 
specimen,  measuring  twelve  feet  from  tip  to  tip 
of  its  wings.  Of  course,  I  released  the  bird  very 
soon.    In  such  pastimes,  we  beguiled  the  time,  un- 

129 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

til  we  finally  swept  through  the  great  South  Seas 
and  into  Hobson's  Bay,  passed  Point  Nepean,  and 
anchored  off  Sandridge. 

I  had  fancied  that  Melbourne  was  not  a  fre- 
quented port,  off  the  tracks  of  commerce,  although 
springing  into  life  and  prominence.  Imagine  my 
surprise  when,  on  rounding  the  point  where  one 
could  sweep  the  expanse  of  the  bay,  I  saw  before 
me  some  six  hundred  vessels  that  had  reached  the 
port  before  we  arrived,  and  all,  like  ourselves,  at- 
tracted there  by  the  rumors  of  gold,  gold,  gold! 
For  a  second  time  within  a  few  years,  the  whole 
world  had  gone  wild  over  a  gold  discovery,  and 
was  now  sending  thousands  of  persons  to  Austra- 
lia. Thousands  more  were  deterred  from  going 
only  by  the  fear  of  starvation,  for  very  few  be- 
lieved at  that  time  that  Australia  could  feed  the 
hungry  searchers  after  gold,  much  less  give  them 
a  fortune  in  gold  nuggets. 

Before  I  left  Boston  I  had  heard  much  about 
the  perils  of  starvation  in  Australia.  I  was  told 
that  the  country  produced  little,  and  that  its  scant 
resources  would  soon  be  overtaxed  by  the  horde 
of  gold-seekers.  "  Starve !  "  I  said ;  "  why  there 
are  twenty  million  sheep  in  the  island."  I  was 
then  told  that  man  could  not  live  by  mutton  alone. 
But  I  knew  that,  with  these  millions  of  sheep, 
there  was  little  danger  of  famine. 

From  the  anchorage  at  Sandridge  to  Melbourne 
the  distance  is  about  ten  miles,  the  Yarra-Yarra 

130 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTRALIA 

winding  and  twisting  through  the  tortuous  chan- 
nel. As  this  river  is  too  shallow  to  admit  ships 
of  a  greater  burden  than  sixty  tons,  all  large  ves- 
sels anchor  at  Sandridge,  or  Williamstown.  While 
the  distance  up  the  Yarra-Yarra  is  ten  miles, 
across  the  spit  of  sand  it  is  only  two.  I  went  into 
Melbourne  at  once,  secured  buildings  for  our 
cargo,  and  arranged  for  lighters  to  take  it  up  the 
Y''arra-Yarra. 

The  very  first  thing  that  impressed  me  in  Aus- 
tralia was  the  miserable  and  unnecessary  incon- 
venience of  having  to  send  everything  up  the 
twisted  channel  of  the  Yarra-Yarra  by  lighters.  I 
determined  to  look  into  this  and  see  what  could  be 
done.  The  method  was  too  expensive  and  too  slow 
to  suit  me.  I  immediately  called  on  the  most  in- 
fluential men  of  the  city,  like  De  Graves,  Octavius 
Brown,  Dalgetty,  Cruikshank  &  Co.,  and  James 
Henty,  and  said  to  them :  "  This  thing  of  coming 
by  way  of  the  Yarra-Yarra,  ten  miles,  when  it  is 
only  two  miles  by  land,  is  out  of  the  question.  Let 
us  build  a  railway  to  Sandridge." 

Apparently,  this  had  not  occurred  to  them. 
They  had  brought  from  England  their  habits  of 
thought,  and  accepted  things  as  they  found 
them.  But  I  kept  at  the  railway  suggestion,  until 
the  line  was  built.  This  was  my  first  experience  in 
organizing  railways.    It  was  not  my  last. 

I  also  found  that  it  was  not  possible  to  get  suit- 
able accommodations  in  Melbourne  for  business. 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 

There  was  no  building  there  that  was  large 
enough.  In  order  to  get  one  sufficiently  commo- 
dious, I  had  to  build  it.  Accordingly,  we  put  up 
at  the  corner  of  Flinders  and  Elizabeth  Streets, 
opposite  the  railway  station,  the  biggest  structure 
in  the  city.  It  cost  a  pretty  penny.  The  building 
was  140  feet  deep,  40  feet  wide  and  three  stories 
high.  The  date,  "  1854,"  was  cut  in  stone  at  the 
top.  The  edifice  cost  $60,000.  I  imported  iron 
shutters  from  England  to  make  it  fireproof. 

It  was  also  necessary  to  have  a  building  at 
Sandridge,  a  warehouse  in  which  to  store  our 
goods  until  they  were  needed  in  Melbourne,  or 
until  they  were  shipped  for  America  or  Europe. 
In  putting  up  this  building,  I  resolved  to  make  an 
experiment.  This  was  to  have  the  building  made 
in  Boston,  and  shipped  out  to  me  to  be  erected  at 
Sandridge,  thousands  of  miles  away.  If  success- 
ful, the  warehouse  would  cost  much  less  and  would 
be  of  better  material  and  in  better  style  than  any- 
thing I  could  get  in  Australia.  It  reached  Sand- 
ridge all  right  and  was  put  up  at  the  end  of 
the  little  line  of  railwa}^  at  a  cost  of  $25,000.  It 
was  60  feet  deep  by  40  feet  wide,  and  six  stories 
high. 

With  a  warehouse  at  each  end  of  the  line,  with 
all  the  business  credit  that  I  could  wish,  and  with 
the  best  connections  in  the  world,  we  were  pre- 
pared to  do  a  big  business  in  Melbourne.  How 
far  we  succeeded  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact 

132 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTRALIA 

that  my  commissions  the  first  year  amounted  to 
$95,000. 

Melbourne  was  a  small  but  promising  city.  It 
had  some  20,000  population  at  the  time  of  the  gold- 
fever,  and  had  grown  tremendously  in  the  last  two 
or  three  years,  so  that,  in  '54,  it  must  have  had 
something  like  30,000  or  40,000  inhabitants.  It 
was,  of  course,  a  frontier  town,  crude  and  raw, 
with  few  of  the  advantages  of  civilization.  The 
people  were  too  busy  with  their  search  for  gold 
and  profits  to  think  much  of  the  conveniences  or 
luxuries  of  life.  The  only  good  hotel,  for  instance, 
was  the  Squatters'  Hotel,  at  Port  Philip.  There 
was  not  even  a  merchants'  exchange,  although  one 
was  greatly  needed.  The  merchants  had  simply 
never  heard  of  such  a  thing.  I  arranged  with 
Salmi  Morse,  who  afterward  tried  to  introduce 
the  Passion  Play  in  this  country,  to  assist  him  in 
putting  up  a  building  that  could  be  used  for  a 
hotel,  theater,  and  mercantile  exchange.  The 
hotel  was  the  Criterion,  and  we  had  a  hall  in  the 
building  for  the  exchange.  The  latter  was  the 
means  of  bringing  together  ship  captains,  mer- 
chants, agents,  and  business  men  generally,  and  a 
great  stimulus  was  given  to  business. 

I  was  able  to  introduce  into  Australia  a  great 
many  articles  and  ideas  from  America.  I  brought 
over  from  Boston  a  lot  of  "  Concord  "  wagons,  of 
the  same  type  as  the  one  that  "Ben"  Holliday 
drove  across  the  continent,  and  I  told  Freeman 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Cobb,  who  was  then  with  Adams  &  Co.,  that  I 
wanted  him  to  start  a  line  of  coaches  between 
Melbourne  and  the  gold-mines,  a  distance  of  about 
sixty  miles.  I  advanced  the  money  for  the  enter- 
prise, and  a  line  was  established,  the  first  in  Aus- 
tralia, to  Geelong,  Ballarat,  Bendigo,  and  Castle 
Maine.  These  were  the  first  coaches  seen  in  that 
continent.  The  coaches  cost  in  Australia  $3,000 
apiece. 

I  had  a  chaise  brought  from  Boston  for  my 
own  use.  It  was  so  light  in  comparison  with  the 
great,  heavy,  lumbering  vehicles  that  were  in  use 
in  all  English  countries,  that  the  people  there  said 
it  would  break  down  immediately.  They  had  not 
heard  of  Holmes's  "Wonderful  One-horse  Shay 
that  ran  a  hundred  years  to  a  day,"  and  did  not, 
of  course,  know  the  toughness  of  all  "  Yankee  " 
things.  It  didn't  break  down,  and  its  lightness 
and  general  serviceableness  made  it  a  big  adver- 
tisement of  American  goods.  People  urged  me  to 
import  a  great  many  vehicles  from  America. 
Every  ship  brought  out  wagons  of  the  Concord 
make,  chaises,  and  vehicles  of  all  sorts.  Our  car- 
riages and  buggies  attracted  much  attention. 
They  were  the  first  vehicles  of  the  sort  that  had 
ever  been  seen  in  the  country.  I  sold  these  at  a 
great  profit. 

A  great  disappointment  and  loss  occurred, 
however,  through  the  carelessness  of  the  Amer- 
ican shippers,  on  one  occasion.     They  had  sent  a 

134 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTRALIA 

cargo  of  carriages,  and  I  was  certain  of  a  large 
profit  on  tlie  shipment.  What  was  my  surprise 
and  horror,  on  the  arrival  of  the  cargo,  to  discover 
that  the  stupid  shippers  had  sent  only  the  tops 
of  the  carriages!  The  bodies  of  the  vehicles  had 
actually  been  shipped  to  San  Francisco ! 

A  thing  that  greatly  surprised  me,  in  a  land 
of  Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  and  Irishmen,  was  that 
there  were  no  sports  in  Australia.  It  seems  more 
strange  now,  after  Kipling's  fierce  denunciation 
of  the  "  padded  fools  at  the  wickets  and  the  mud- 
died oafs  at  the  goal."  As  I  had  always  been  fond 
of  outdoor  sport,  I  at  once  introduced  bowling  and 
ten-pins,  opened  an  alley  and  organized  a  club 
which  was  composed  of  Australian  bankers — Man- 
ager Blackwood  of  the  Union  Bank,  MacArthur  of 
the  Bank  of  Australia,  Badcock  of  the  Bank  of 
New  South  Wales,  Bramhall  of  the  London  Char- 
tered Bank,  O'Shaughnessy  of  the  Bank  of  Aus- 
tralasia, and  Mathieson  of  the  Bank  of  Victoria.  I 
mention  these  names  here  merely  for  convenience, 
and  to  bring  together  some  of  the  men  with  whom 
I  was  associated  in  social  and  in  business  life  in 
Melbourne.  They  represented  some  $200,000,000 
of  capital.  MacArthur  had  a  beautiful  bungalow 
four  miles  out  of  Melbourne,  where  he  invited  me 
to  shoot. 

I  found  living  at  a  hotel  very  dreary  and  very 
inconvenient,  and  decided  to  have  a  home  of  my 
own.    So  I  got  a  two-story  house  at  Collingwood, 

135 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

near  the  residence  of  Governor  Latrobe,  just  out 
of  the  city.  Here  I  accommodated  my  clerks,  also. 
I  took  the  stewardess,  Undine,  and  the  steward 
from  one  of  our  ships,  and  was  able  to  set  up  quite 
an  establishment.  The  United  States  consul,  J. 
M.  Tarleton,  and  his  wife,  lived  with  us  for  a  time. 

After  I  had  been  in  Melbourne  nearly  a  year 
I  was  guilty  of  a  small  piece  of  patriotism  that 
has  ever  since  seemed  very  amusing  to  me.  I  had 
been  reared  in  the  belief  that  every  American-born 
boy  has  a  chance  to  become  President  of  the  United 
States.  I  had  also  the  idea  that  a  child  born  out 
of  the  United  States  was  not,  in  this  sense,  Amer- 
ican-born. My  wife  expected  to  give  birth  to  a 
child  in  a  few  months,  and,  like  most  parents,  we 
fully  expected  it  would  be  a  son.  So  what  should  I 
do,  in  order  not  to  rob  my  son  of  the  chance  of 
becoming  President  of  his  country,  but  send  the 
mother  across  the  seas  to  Boston,  that  he  might 
be  born  on  the  soil  of  the  United  States!  It  was 
not  until  some  little  time  after  this  that  I  learned 
that  nationality  follows  the  parents,  and  that 
Presidents  may  be  born  anywhere,  if  they  are 
careful  in  the  matter  of  their  parents.  The  ex- 
pected boy  was  a  girl — if  I  may  be  pardoned  an 
Irish  bull.  This  was  my  daughter  Sue,  who  could 
never  be  President,  unless  the  Woman's  Suffrage 
movement  moves  along  very  much  faster  than  it 
has  up  to  this  time. 

I  have  not  mentioned  my  partner  in  the  Aus- 

136 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTRALIA 

tralian  venture,  since  I  said  that  he  and  our  clerks 
sailed  away  from  Boston  for  Melbourne  on  the 
Plymouth  Rock — a  curious  reversal  of  history,  for 
the  West  was  going  to  exploit  the  East,  and  it  was 
singular  that  a  vessel  with  the  historic  name  of 
Plymouth  Rock  should  have  been  chosen  to  bear 
this  new  Argonautic  expedition  into  the  South 
Seas.  Captain  Caldwell,  as  I  have  said,  was  an 
elderly  man,  sober  and  conservative.  He  had  been 
a  sea-captain  for  many  years,  and  was  a  man  of 
considerable  experience.  It  was  the  expectation 
of  the  Boston  shippers  that  his  conservatism 
would  serve  as  a  check  upon  my  rashness  and  ven- 
turesomeness. 

Captain  Caldwell,  however,  did  not  like  Aus- 
tralia, but  his  presence  did  not  prevent  my  plung- 
ing into  whatever  speculation  or  enterprise  seemed 
inviting.  The  country  was  full  of  chances,  and  I 
should  have  been  stupid,  indeed,  not  to  have 
availed  myself  of  them  as  far  as  possible.  But 
the  rough  life  did  not  suit  Captain  Caldwell, 
although  he  was  accustomed  to  roughing  it  at  sea ; 
and  he  wanted  to  return  to  America.  So  I  con- 
sented to  his  return.  He  went  in  the  same  ship 
with  my  wife,  the  Red  Jacket,  which,  by  the  way, 
was  then  to  make  one  of  the  record-breaking  voy- 
ages of  the  world.  Although  he  had  been  in  Mel- 
bourne only  a  few  months,  I  gave  him  $7,500, 
which  was  the  share  belonging  to  him  of  the  esti- 
mated profit  in  our  business. 

137 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

There  was  still  another  incident  connected  with 
this  voyage  of  the  Red  Jacket  which  made  it  mem- 
orable in  my  experiences.  I  have  mentioned  that 
the  phrenologist  Bridges  said,  in  England,  some 
years  before  this,  that  I  should  become  either  a 
great  reformer  or  a  great  pirate.  In  Melbourne, 
one  day,  I  found  myself  face  to  face  with  a  charge 
of  piracy !  I  was  accused  of  trying  to  make  away 
with  some  $2,000,000  of  gold,  which  I  had  put  on 
the  Red  Jacket  for  shipment  to  London. 

It  happened  in  this  way.  It  was  of  course  cus- 
tomary to  have  all  bills  of  lading  signed  by  the 
ship's  captain.  But  Captain  Reid,  of  the  Red 
Jacket,  had  been  arrested,  at  the  instance  of  one 
of  the  passengers,  and  the  ship  was  libeled  on  ac- 
count of  a  claim.  For  this  reason.  Captain  Reid 
had  not  been  present  to  sign  the  bills  of  lading. 
In  Boston,  I  had  often  signed  bills  of  lading  in 
the  absence  of  the  captain,  so  I  had  had  no  hesi- 
tancy as  to  my  course  in  this  emergency.  I  con- 
sidered that  I  had  a  perfect  right  to  sign  the  bills, 
and  so  I  did  sign  them  for  the  $2,000,000  in 
gold,  putting  it  "  George  Francis  Train,  for  the 
captain." 

Now,  the  English  are  a  conservative  people. 
"When  they  see  anything  new  it  "  frights  "  them. 
They  can  not  understand  why  there  should  ever 
be  occasion  for  any  new  thing  under  the  sun. 
When  the  Melbourne  banks  saw  that  I  had  signed 
the  papers,  they  were  scared  nearly  out  of  their 

138 


BUSINESS  SUCCESS  IN  AUSTKALIA 

boots.  They  had  never  heard  of  such  a  proce- 
dure, and  thought  their  insurance  was  gone. 

But  this  was  not  all.  The  Red  Jacket  was  the 
fastest  clipper  that  had  then  visited  Melbourne, 
and  it  occurred  to  these  bankers  that  I  was  going 
to  run  off  with  this  gold,  and  become  a  Captain 
Kidd  or  a  buccaneering  Morgan.  They  grounded 
their  fears  upon  the  facts  that  my  wife  was 
aboard,  that  Captain  Caldwell,  my  partner  and 
friend,  was  also  a  passenger,  and  they  believed 
that  Captain  Reid  was  on  board,  although  under 
arrest.  To  suspicious  bankers,  here  was  a  really 
strong  case  against  me. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  Red  Jacket,  with  he? 
trim  sails  bellied  with  the  wind,  and  sweeping 
along  in  a  way  of  her  own  that  nothing  in  the 
South  Seas  could  imitate  or  approach,  was  pass- 
ing down  Hobson's  Bay.  The  Government  and 
the  Melbourne  authorities  despatched  two  men-of- 
war  after  her.  There  was  no  possibility  of  her 
being  overhauled  by  these  craft,  and  I  gave  orders 
to  make  for  Point  Nepean.  The  sheriffs  from  Mel- 
bourne, who  thought  Captain  Reid  was  aboard, 
stayed  on  the  ship,  but  I  ordered  them  put  off  at 
the  Point.  They  were  furious,  but  could  do  noth- 
ing, since  they  could  not  act  for  Melbourne  at  sea 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Accordingly,  they 
were  put  on  a  tug  and  taken  back  to  Melbourne. 
Immediately  after  the  sheriffs  left  the  boat,  a  lit- 
tle yacht,  the  Flying  Eagle,  with  Captain  Reid 
11  139 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

aboard,  came  alongside,  and  the  captain  was  put 
on  the  Red  Jacket,  just  outside  the  jurisdiction  of 
Australia. 

The  Red  Jacket  caught  the  wind  again,  and 
showed  her  clean  heels  to  the  slow-sailing  men-of- 
war  giving  chase.  She  made  the  run  to  Liverpool 
in  sixty-four  days. 

The  authorities  and  the  bankers  of  Melbourne 
did  not  like  the  proceedings  at  all,  but  saw  that 
they  could  do  nothing.  There  was  great  anxiety 
in  Australia  for  two  months  and  more.  When  it 
was  learned  that  the  $2,000,000  of  gold  had  been 
landed  in  Liverpool  without  the  loss  of  a  farthing, 
I  was  heartily  congratulated,  although  the  British 
spirit  never  forgave  the  taking  of  matters  into 
my  own  hands  and  making  the  best  of  a  bad  situa- 
tion.   Their  conservatism  had  received  a  shock. 


140 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES  AND 

TASMANIA 
1853-1855 

During  my  stay  in  Melbourne  the  gold-fever 
was  at  its  height.  I  was  particularly  interested 
in  the  mines,  and  went  to  Ballarat  to  see  how  the 
British  managed  these  things.  It  was  while  I  was 
there,  as  it  happened,  that  the  great  "  bonanza 
nugget "  was  discovered.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
impression  that  this  discovery  and  its  tragic  end- 
ing made  upon  my  mind.  It  is  a  story  that  the 
world  has  heard  many  times,  perhaps,  and  as 
many  times  forgotten ;  but  for  one  who  felt  its  ter- 
rible lesson  stamped  hot  upon  his  heart,  it  is  un- 
forgetable. 

There  were  lucky  and  unlucky  miners  in  Aus- 
tralia, as  there  have  been  everywhere  else  in  the 
world's  gold-fields.  Many  found  great  nuggets 
that  contained  fortunes — "  infinite  riches  in  a  lit- 
tle room  " — while  many  more  found  nothing  but 
infinite  hardship  and  heart-breaking  misery. 
Among  the  army  of  broken  men,  there  was  a 

141 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

"  hobo "  named  Hooligan  who  had  not  found 
any  gold,  could  no  longer  find  even  work,  and  was 
starving.  One  day  he  went  to  the  owners  of  a 
mine  or  shaft  that  had  been  worked  out,  and  asked 
permission  to  go  down  to  try  his  luck.  They  con- 
sented. The  desperate  fellow  took  his  pick  and 
descended  to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft.  In  a  few 
minutes  he  was  worth  a  fortune.  He  had  found 
the  biggest  nugget  ever  taken  out  of  the  earth's 
treasure-house.  Two  hundred  feet  below  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  he  had  driven  his  pick,  by 
merest  chance,  against  a  lump  of  gold  that  would 
have  transmuted  Midas's  wand  into  better  metal. 

He  came  up  out  of  the  shaft,  knowing  that  he 
had  found  a  pretty  big  sum,  but  did  not  realize 
how  much  it  was.  The  nugget  was  brought  up 
and  weighed.  It  had  exactly  the  weight  of  a  barrel 
of  flour,  196  pounds.  He  was  rich.  That  morn- 
ing he  had  been  a  beggar,  and  now  he  was  the 
richest  miner  in  the  fields.  They  weighed  the  gold 
carefully,  and  told  him  that  he  was  a  rich  man. 

"  Is — all — that — mine  ?  "  he  asked,  as  if  the 
words  were  as  heavy  as  the  big  nugget  and  as  val- 
uable. They  told  him  it  was.  "  It  doesn't  belong 
to  the  Government?"  "No."  "All  mine,"  he 
said  in  a  whisper,  and  dropped  to  the  floor,  dead. 

No  one  knew  him.  His  name  even  was  not 
known.  He  was  a  mere  restless  wanderer  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  had  broken  his  heart 
over  the  biggest  nugget,  the  richest  piece  of  gold, 

142 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES 

on  the  globe.    And  so  the  nugget  became  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Government,  after  all. 

Capt.  David  D.  Porter,  who  was  afterward  ad- 
miral of  the  United  States  navy,  visited  Mel- 
bourne while  I  was  there,  and  I  gave  him  a  recep- 
tion, at  which  he  met  the  prominent  people  of  the 
colony.  He  was  a  relative  of  mine.  I  was  very 
proud  of  him  then,  though  more  so  later.  He  was 
in  command  of  the  Golden  Age,  which  was  after- 
ward famous  for  the  Black  Warrior  incident. 
He  invited  my  wife  and  myself  to  go  with  him  in 
his  ship  to  Sydney,  New  South  Wales.  We  had  a 
delightful  trip  around  the  island.  The  ship  made 
as  great  a  sensation  in  Sydney  as  it  had  made  in 
Melbourne.  The  American  flag  had  rarely  been 
seen  above  a  man-of-war  in  those  waters.  At  Syd- 
ney we  met  Sir  Charles  Fitzroy,  Governor  of  New 
South  Wales,  as  well  as  prominent  people  in  civil 
and  official  life.  Sir  Charles  Fitzroy  was  a  sur- 
vival of  the  old  "  beau  "  days  of  the  court  of  the 
last  of  the  Georges,  and  had  the  heavy  courtesy  of 
that  time,  when  everything  said  or  done  was  ac- 
companied by  a  low  bow  and  a  gracious  smile.  He 
entertained  us  handsomely  at  Government  House. 
We  were  also  entertained  by  Sir  Charles  Nichol- 
son, at  his  beautiful  country  seat.  I  had  the  pecul- 
iar pleasure,  while  in  Australia,  of  fulfilling  one 
of  the  prophecies  of  Sidney  Smith,  made  when  he 
had  been  editor  of  the  Quarterly  Review  some  forty 
j^ears  before.    He  said,  I  remembered,  that  in  half 

143 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

a  century  cargoes  of  tea — the  luxury  that  England 
of  his  day  and  ours  regards  as  an  infallible  evi- 
dence of  civilization — would  be  landed  at  the 
docks  of  Sydney.  He  referred  to  Port  Jackson, 
which  is  now  dominated  by  the  thriving  city  of 
Sydney,  and  was  then  one  of  the  most  promising 
ports  of  the  South  Seas.  I  was,  at  that  time,  re- 
ceiving tea  on  consignnaent  from  Nye,  of  Canton, 
China,  called  the  "  Napoleon  of  tea  trade,"  and 
it  occurred  to  me  that  Australia  should  be  a 
good  market  for  it.  Three  cargoes  came  from 
Canton,  with  instructions  that  if  the  market  at 
Melbourne  proved  unfavorable,  one  of  the  cargoes 
should  be  shipped  to  Sydney.  It  was  accordingly 
sent  there,  fulfilling  the  prophecy  of  Sydney 
Smith,  and  opening  the  tea  trade  of  that  portion 
of  Australia. 

Sir  Charles  Nicholson,  before  we  were  there, 
entertained  Commodore  Wilkes,  who  was  visiting 
Australia,  and  who  afterward  stirred  up  Great 
Britain  by  removing  forcibly  from  the  British 
mail-steamer  Trent  the  Confederate  States'  agents, 
Mason  and  Slidell.  I  was  surprised  to  find  in  the 
harbor  two  of  our  old  packets,  the  Anglo-Ameri- 
can and  the  Washington  Irving,  Captain  Cald- 
well's packet,  under  changed  names.  They  had 
been  sold  to  English  shipowners. 

Sydney  was  not  a  large  place  at  this  time,  al- 
though it  was  growing  fast.  It  may  be  well  to 
recall  here  that  it  had  been  founded  as  a  penal 

144 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES 


colony,  the  effects  of  which  had  not  entirely  passed 
away  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  although  no  convicts 
had  arrived  since  '41,  I  believe.  The  influence  of 
Botany  Bay  had  also  been  felt  by  Sydney.  I  was 
struck  by  the  beautiful,  narrow,  rock-bound  en- 
trance to  the  harbor.  It  gives  to  the  port  many 
miles  of  seashore,  and  is  so  winding  that  when 
Captain  Cook,  who  discovered  it,  sailed  in  and 
anchored  in  Botany  Bay,  some  of  his  sailors  re- 
ported that  they  saw  from  the  masthead  a  large 
inland  lake  in  the  interior.  The  "  lake  "  proved 
to  be  only  an  apparent  one,  produced  by  one  of 
the  many  windings  of  the  beautiful,  sinuous  arm 
of  the  sea,  eventually  to  hold  in  its  embrace  the 
fine  city  of  Sydney. 

We  returned  from  Sydney  to  Melbourne  after 
a  short  but  delightful  visit.  Shortly  after  leav- 
ing port  we  ran  into  one  of  the  most  terrific  storms 
I  have  ever  experienced.  It  was  the  right  time 
of  the  year  for  gales  to  appear,  and  this  one,  as  is 
characteristic  of  the  wild  nature  of  the  South 
Seas,  seemed  to  spring  from  a  clear  sky  and  un- 
ruffled waters.  If  our  boat  had  been  one  of  the 
usual  type  of  merchantmen,  it  must  certainly  have 
gone  down.  But  the  Golden  Age  was  stanch  and 
strong.  She  battled  with  the  seas  as  with  a 
human  foe.  In  spite  of  her  seaworthiness,  how- 
ever, almost  every  one  aboard  thought  she  could 
not  withstand  the  repeated  shock  of  waves  that 
tumbled  in  mountains  against  her  bows. 

145 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

In  the  midst  of  the  storm,  I  saw  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  richest  merchants  of  Sydney 
coming  across  the  deck,  thrown  hither  and  thither 
by  the  tossings  of  the  ship,  and  carrying  in  his 
hands  a  very  heavy  package.  "  For  the  love  of 
goodness,  what  have  you  there  ? "  I  asked  in 
amazement.  He  made  no  direct  reply,  and  I 
thought  him  too  much  terrified  to  speak,  but  he 
finally  came  close  up  to  me  and  said :  "  Mr.  Train, 
I  know  you  have  some  influence  here  on  the  ship. 
I  have  brought  with  me  one  thousand  sovereigns. 
They  are  here  " — and  he  tapped  the  bag  he  carried 
in  his  hands.  "  I  want  you  to  go  with  me  to  the 
captain  and  give  him  this  amount  for  putting  me 
off  in  a  small  boat."  "  A  small  boat  would  not  live 
a  minute  in  this  sea,"  I  said.  "  I  am  prepared," 
he  replied,  "  to  take  my  chances,  as  it  would  be 
better  there  than  here,  for  the  ship  may  go  down 
any  moment."  I  refused  to  go  to  the  captain  with 
so  foolish  a  request,  and  urged  him  to  be  calm,  as 
the  ship  was  stout  and  would  weather  the  storm. 
He  could  not  calm  himself,  but  fretted  and  fumed 
in  terror.  As  fortune  favored  us,  the  gale  sud- 
denly stopped,  sweeping  on  away  from  us  as  swift- 
ly as  it  had  come.  The  rich  merchant  soon  took 
his  thousand  sovereigns  back  to  his  room. 

I  have  stated  already  that  I  was  the  agent  for 
Boston  insurance  people.  This,  of  course,  made 
me  somewhat  solicitous  about  the  safety  of  all  ves- 
sels in  those  waters.    One  morning  the  entire  city 

146 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES 

of  Melbourne  was  startled  by  the  news  that  a  great 
clipper  had  gone  down  or  ashore  on  Flinder's  Is- 
land, off  Point  Nepean.  Later  we  learned  that  she 
was  ashore,  and  that  signals  of  distress  were  fly- 
ing from  her  masthead  and  rigging.  Of  course, 
I  was  much  alarmed,  and  began  at  once  to  see 
what  could  be  done  to  save  the  ship  and  crew.  I 
got  a  tug,  and  was  soon  taking  a  rescue  party  down 
Hobson's  Bay.  We  steamed  as  fast  as  the  tug's 
engines  would  carry  her  through  the  driving  seas. 
As  we  neared  the  wreck,  we  saw  that  the  ship  was 
the  Whistler  from  Boston.  She  seemed  to  be  a 
complete  wreck,  and  with  our  glasses  we  could  not 
discover  any  sign  of  life  aboard  her. 

I  did  not  give  up  the  venture  there,  however, 
but  directed  the  captain  of  the  tugboat  to  make 
directly  for  the  island.  I  had  a  vague  hope  that 
the  crew  had  somehow  managed  to  get  ashore  in 
the  boats  or  on  floating  timbers.  The  captain  did 
not  relish  this  part  of  his  work,  and  his  fears 
were  soon  justified,  for  we  very  narrowly  escaped 
shipwreck  ourselves  in  the  wild  seas.  We  had, 
finally,  to  wait  until  the  waves  went  down  a  little, 
before  attempting  to  land  on  Flinder's  Island.  We 
got  up  as  near  as  we  could,  however,  and  then  we 
saw  signals  flying  from  shore.  We  signaled  in 
reply,  and  the  wrecked  crew  understood  that  we 
were  waiting  for  the  sea  to  run  less  wildly  before 
attempting  to  reach  land. 

The  wind  died  down  slowly,  and  it  was  hours 

147 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

before  we  could  approach  the  coast.  As  soon  as 
possible,  I  got  out  with  a  crew  in  a  small  boat  and 
went  to  the  island.  We  had  a  most  difficult  time 
in  getting  through  the  surf  and  avoiding  the  break- 
ers, but  we  finally  reached  shore.  There  we  found 
Captain  Brown  with  his  wife,  the  ship's  officers 
and  the  crew,  all  alive  and  well.  They  had  man- 
aged to  live  on  shell-fish  and  wallaby — the  small 
bush  kangaroos.  They  had  not  been  able  to  take 
anything  from  the  ship,  and  could  not,  of  course, 
reach  her  after  she  had  been  abandoned.  We  got 
them  all  aboard  the  tug,  and  carried  them  safely  to 
Melbourne.  The  American  consul  afterward  sent 
them  all  home  by  way  of  Liverpool.  This  was  the 
second  rescue  of  shipwrecked  crew  and  passengers 
that  I  had  made,  and  I  felt  a  little  too  proud  of  it, 
I  suppose. 

About  this  time  the  British  and  Colonial  Gov- 
ernments decided  to  settle  Tasmania  with  free  emi- 
grants. The  idea  was  to  pay  the  expenses  of  all 
who  wanted  to  go  to  that  island,  and  the  Govern- 
ments made  a  contract  with  the  White  Star  Line 
to  transport  the  settlers.  The  British  Government 
was  to  pay  one  half  the  expense,  and  the  Colonial 
Government  the  remainder.  The  contract  was 
signed  by  Henry  T.  Wilson,  manager  of  the  'V\Tiite 
Star  Line,  the  sailing-ship  pioneers  of  Morgan's 
mammoth  steamship  combination,  who  sent  all 
the  papers  to  me  at  Melbourne,  as  representing 
the  company,  to  see  that  the  terms  of  the  agree- 

148 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW   SOUTH  WALES 


ment  were  carried  out.  He  also  requested  me  to 
go  to  Hobart  Town  (now  called  Hobart)  to  be 
there  when  the  first  ship-load  of  emigrants  ar- 
rived to  collect  the  money  for  the  passage.  I  im- 
mediately took  steamer  for  Hobart  Town,  and 
I  shall  never  forget  the  pleasure  of  that  voyage. 
It  was  a  revelation.  The  trip  up  the  estuary  to 
Hobart  Town  was  delightful,  and  the  scenery, 
I  tliink,  was  altogether  the  most  charming 
I  had  seen  in  the  Southern  world.  At  Hobart 
Town  I  was  received  by  Mr.  Chapman,  a  shipping 
merchant,  to  whom  I  had  written  in  advance,  and 
he  made  me  stay  with  him  at  his  beautiful  bunga- 
low, on  the  crest  of  a  high  hill,  commanding  a  fine 
view  of  the  city. 

The  emigrants  arrived  in  excellent  condition. 
They  were  the  first  free  settlers  of  Tasmania. 
There  had  not  been  a  death  aboard  ship,  and  the 
moment  the  newcomers  arrived  they  were  em- 
ployed, for  the  city  of  Hobart  Town  was  very 
thriving,  and  there  was  an  abundance  of  work  to 
be  done.  I  again  had  the  pleasure  of  feeling  that 
in  this,  as  in  other  enterprises,  I  was  an  argonaut 
and  a  pioneer. 

I  was  astonished  to  find  so  many  persons  of 
prominence,  especially  in  the  world  of  letters,  set- 
tled in  this  far-away  colony  of  England.  At  Ho- 
bart Town  I  found  the  Powers,  the  Howitts 
(whose  books  were  then  tremendously  popular), 
and  Thorne,  the  author  of  Orion.    Then,  as  now, 

149 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

this  colony  was  regarded  as  the  most  pleasant  por- 
tion of  the  vast  possessions  of  Great  Britain  in  the 
South  Seas.  The  climate  and  the  aspects  of  the 
country  were  far  more  pleasant  than  those  of  Aus- 
tralia, some  fifty  miles  distant  across  Bass  Straits. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  whole  world  was 
talking  about  the  various  efforts  being  made  to  dis- 
cover the  remains  of  the  ill-fated  expedition  to  the 
North  Pole  that  had  been  led  by  the  former  gov- 
ernor of  Tasmania,  the  much-beloved  Sir  John 
Franklin.  He  had  gone  to  the  north  in  1845,  and 
nothing  had  been  heard  of  him  since.  His  wife 
was  supposed  to  be  mourning  for  him  in  solitude. 

Curiosity  led  me  to  the  house  where  this  fa- 
mous governor  and  adventurous  explorer  had 
lived,  and  the  janitor,  a  trusted  old  servant, 
showed  me  over  the  building.  It  was  one  of  those 
enormous  structures  which  the  English  build  for 
the  edification  and  amazement  of  the  natives  in 
their  colonies.  I  had  heard  and  read  a  great  deal 
about  Sir  John  and  the  lovely  woman  that  was 
mourning  his  long  absence,,  and  I  entered  the  silent 
house  with  a  feeling  that  I  was  trespassing  upon 
a  great  and  unutterable  grief.  Imagine  my  aston- 
ishment— I  may  say,  horror — to  learn  that  Lady 
Franklin,  or  Lady  Jane,  as  she  was  generally 
called,  had  for  years  lived  at  one  end  of  the  long 
house,  while  Sir  John  had  lived  at  the  other,  and 
that,  as  the  story  went,  they  had  not  spoken  to 
each  other  for  years.     She  seemed  certainly  to 

150 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES 

have  had  the  grace  to  assume  a  virtue  she  did  not 
possess,  and  apparently  mourned  her  lost  lord  for 
years,  and  spent  much  of  her  time  in  liberal  chari- 
ties. This  is  the  first  time  I  have  referred  in  any 
way  to  this  unknown  unhappiness  of  Sir  John 
Franklin.  It  was  not  known  to  many  people  in 
Tasmania  at  the  time,  and  I  suppose  that  it  is 
known  now  only  to  members  of  the  two  families, 
the  Franklins  and  the  Griffins. 

As  I  had  come  half  around  the  island  of  Tas- 
mania, approaching  Hobart  Town  from  the  sea, 
I  had  seen  nothing  of  the  interior  of  the  country, 
so  I  determined — after  finishing  my  business  in 
Hobart  Town — to  cross  the  island  to  Launceston. 
There  is  now  a  railway  running  directly  across, 
but  at  that  time  there  was  only  a  stage  route. 
Stages  ran  every  other  day.  I  engaged  passage 
in  the  mail-coach,  the  same  style  of  coach  that  had 
been  used  for  hundreds  of  years  in  England  and 
Scotland,  still  as  rough  and  cumbersome  as  when 
first  devised.  There,  too,  was  the  old  Tudor 
driver  and  the  Restoration  guard.  Nothing  was 
wanting.  The  coach  looked  to  me  as  if  it  had  been 
taken  from  behind  the  scenes  of  some  old  comedy 
— a  piece  of  stage  property. 

But  if  the  stage  was  antiquated  and  out  of 
touch  with  the  modern  stir  of  the  world,  the  driver 
was  not.  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  would  be 
the  proper  thing  in  the  way  of  a  "  tip,"  as  I  did 
not  know  the  ways  of  Tasmania.    "  That  depends, 

151 


MY  LIFE  m  MANY  STATES 


sir,"  he  said,  "upon  whom  we  are  riding  with." 
That  settled  the  business  for  me,  for  my  tip  then 
had  to  be  a  sort  of  measure  of  my  self-esteem.  I 
was  literally  cornered,  and  had  to  give  him  a  big 
tip,  in  sheer  self-defense. 

The  road  to  Launceston  was  an  excellent  one, 
a  macadam  built  by  convicts,  and  the  scenery  was 
the  most  beautiful  I  had  seen  in  Australasia. 
When  I  arrived  at  Launceston  I  had  to  get  a  pass 
to  leave  the  country,  as  it  had  been  necessary  to 
have  a  passport  to  enter  it.  The  British  were  very 
particular  whom  they  permitted  to  leave  Tas- 
mania, and  whom  they  allowed  to  go  there. 

Near  Launceston  I  saw  the  room  in  which 
Francis,  who  was  afterward  a  member  of  the 
cabinet  of  the  colony  of  Victoria  and  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  energetic  men  of  Australasia, 
had  his  famous  and  terrible  fight  with  a  burglar. 
This  fight  has  become  a  tradition  all  over  the  colo- 
nies and  is  still  recalled  as  one  of  the  thrilling 
experiences  of  early  days.  One  night  Francis 
heard  a  noise  in  his  dining-room.  He  was  up  late, 
studying  in  his  library,  and  as  the  country  was 
infested  by  desperate  convicts  who  had  escaped 
from  the  camps,  he  at  once  went  to  the  room  to 
see  whether  a  burglar  had  broken  in. 

Peering  through  the  keyhole,  he  saw  a  man 
with  a  dark  lantern  putting  the  family  plate  into 
a  bag.  Francis  came  to  a  decision  at  once  as  to 
what  to  do.    He  would  enter  the  room,  and  fight 

152 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES 

it  out  with  the  robber.  Silently  opening  the  door, 
he  entered,  and  then  quickly  locked  the  door  and 
threw  away  the  key.  Immediately  there  was  a 
desperate  fight.  The  burglar  finding  himself  en- 
trapped, turned  upon  Francis  and  tried  to  kill  him 
with  a  huge  knife.  Francis  caught  his  arm,  and 
a  struggle  to  the  death  began.  Several  times  the 
burglar  wrenched  his  hand  free  and  slashed  at 
Francis,  but  the  plucky  fellow  did  not  flinch.  He 
fought  until  he  had  conquered  the  robber,  threw 
him  to  the  floor,  and  bound  his  hands  behind  him. 
Francis  was  himself  so  badly  cut  that  he  was  in 
sight  of  death  for  weeks. 

The  exploits  of  the  convict  Tracy  out  in  Ore- 
gon remind  me  of  a  far  more  terrible  case  in  Aus- 
tralia that  occurred  while  I  was  there.  The  coun- 
try was  a  sort  of  frontier,  in  the  Western  sense, 
from  one  end  to  the  other.  It  was  quite  possible 
that  a  desperate  convict  lurked  in  every  patch  of 
bush,  who  would  as  soon  kill  you  as  ask  for  bread. 
But  news  came  to  Melbourne  one  day  that  a  con- 
vict had  escaped  in  a  peculiarly  terrifying  man- 
ner. He  was  no  ordinary  man.  He  had  coolly 
killed  two  jailers,  or  guards,  having  taken  from 
them  their  own  weapons.  Then,  going  to  the 
water,  he  ordered  a  boatman  to  row  him  out  to  a 
vessel  so  that  he  might  escape  from  the  country. 
The  boatman,  not  knowing  the  character  of  the 
man  he  was  dealing  with,  refused,  and  was  shot 
dead  instantly.    The  fugitive  then  rowed  out  to 

153 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

the  vessel  in  the  dead  man's  boat,  and  demanded 
of  the  captain  that  he  take  him  aboard  and  carry 
him  to  Melbourne.  The  captain  refused,  and  he 
also  was  shot  dead,  and  with  loaded  pistol  the  con- 
vict then  compelled  the  mate  to  take  him  to  Mel- 
bourne. After  he  landed  he  began  a  forlorn  at- 
tempt to  save  himself  from  his  pursuers. 

This  beginning  in  his  career  of  murder  was 
sufficiently  terrible  to  give  the  entire  region  a 
shock,  when  it  became  known  that  he  was  at  large 
and  headed  for  Melbourne.  He  was  next  heard 
of  when  he  reached  Hobson's  Bay  at  Sandridge. 
Here  he  found  a  farmer  plowing  in  the  field.  The 
convict  needed  his  horse,  and  shooting  the  farmer, 
rode  away.  Another  farmer  followed  him,  and  in 
turn  was  killed. 

By  this  time,  of  course,  the  whole  country  was 
aroused — even  the  police — and  parties  were  hur- 
riedly formed  to  capture  the  murderers,  for  no 
one  at  the  time  could  believe  that  it  was  only  one 
man  who  was  committing  all  these  crimes.  When 
he  was  last  seen,  he  was  heading,  apparently,  for 
Ballarat,  where,  perhaps,  he  hoped  to  be  joined  by 
other  men  as  desperate  as  himself.  Ballarat  was 
about  one  hundred  miles  distant,  and  a  posse  start- 
ed in  pursuit.  Nothing  was  heard  or  seen  of  the 
convict  for  fifty  miles,  when  one  of  the  party  saw 
a  man  near  a  squatter's  hut  carrying  another  man 
in  his  arms.  This  seemed  to  be  a  somewhat  cu- 
rious proceeding,  and  the  posse  immediately  closed 

154 


GOLD-FEVER  IN  NEW  SOUTH  WALES 


in  about  the  man.  Just  as  did  Tracy,  this  man 
shot  the  leader  of  the  party.  The  others  then 
pushed  ahead  and  captured  him  before  he  could 
kill  any  one  else.  In  the  hut  they  found  nine  men, 
tied  with  ropes.  It  was  not  understood  what  use 
the  convict  expected  to  make  of  them.  All  were 
uninjured.  At  the  time  of  his  capture,  the  con- 
vict had  killed  fourteen  men. 


13  155 


CHAPTER   XII 

OTHER  AUSTRALIAN   INCIDENTS — A   REVOLUTION 

Once  I  tried  to  be  President  of  the  United 
States.  Before  that  I  had  been  offered  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Australian  Republic.  It  is  true  that 
there  was  no  Australian  Republic  at  that  exact 
moment,  but  it  looked  to  thousands  that  there 
might  be  one  very  soon.  There  was  a  revolution, 
or,  as  it  should  be  called,  a  rebellion,  for  it  was 
unsuccessful,  in  which  I  had  taken  no  part  or 
shown  any  sympathy,  but  the  revolutionists,  or 
rebels,  offered  me  the  chieftaincy  of  their  govern- 
ment, as  soon  as  they  could  establish  it. 

It  came  about  in  this  way.  In  '54  the  miners 
in  the  fields  of  Ballarat  and  Bendigo  were  in  a 
state  of  intense  ferment.  They  were  discontented 
with  existing  conditions— their  luck  in  the  mines, 
the  way  they  were  treated  by  the  Government  and 
the  mine  proprietors,  and  especially  by  the  utter 
failure  of  the  Government  to  protect  them  in  their 
rights  against  the  capitalists.  The  particular 
cause  of  quarrel,  however,  was  the  licenses. 

156 


OTHER  AUSTRALIAN   INCIDENTS 

When  I  went  to  Australia,  the  reader  may 
easily  believe,  there  was  very  little  feeling  for,  or 
knowledge  of,  the  United  States.  I  at  once  un- 
dertook to  spread  the  gospel  of  Americanism,  and 
introduced  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July. 
The  colonists  of  England  have  always  been  quite 
friendly  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  hav- 
ing a  kindred  feeling,  and  all  of  them  have  been 
looking  forward  to  a  day  when  they,  too,  might 
have  a  free  country  to  claim  for  their  own,  and  not 
merely  a  red  spot  on  the  map  of  Great  Britain. 
For  this  reason,  the  Australians  took  kindly  to  the 
idea  of  celebrating  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  as  formerly  a  colony  of  Great  Britain. 

When  the  miners,  who  had  heard  of  my 
"  spread-eagleism,"  as  it  has  since  been  called, 
started  their  little  revolt  against  the  government 
of  the  British,  they  thought  of  me  and  offered  me 
the  presidency  of  the  republic  they  wanted  to 
create.  In  the  meantime,  they  elected  me  their 
representative  in  the  colonial  legislature  of  the 
miners  about  Maryborough,  where  they  held  a 
great  meeting.  I  could  not  have  taken  my  seat  if 
I  had  desired  it,  and  as  I  did  not  desire  it,  of 
course  I  declined.  The  imaginary  presidency  I 
declined,  also,  as  I  neither  wanted  it,  nor  could  I 
have  obtained  it.  The  "  Five-Star  Republic,"  as 
it  was  called,  was  not  to  be  anything  but  a  dream, 
and  the  "revolution"  of  Ballarat  was  only  a 
nightmare. 

157 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Soon  after  I  declined  these  honors,  there  was 
a  terrible  riot  at  Ballarat.  The  whole  mining 
district  had  risen  against  the  Government,  as  La- 
trobe,  the  governor,  had  made  himself  most  un- 
popular by  his  policy  of  procrastination.  Every- 
thing connected  with  the  mining  fields,  he  seemed 
to  think,  could  as  well  be  looked  after  next  year 
as  this.  The  resentment  of  the  miners  had  at  last 
become  uncontrollable.  But,  slow  as  they  were 
about  redressing  the  grievances  of  the  miners, 
the  British  were  fast  enough  in  the  business  of 
protecting  themselves  and  in  putting  down  dis- 
turbances with  a  firm  and  heavy  hand.  Latrobe 
waited  until  the  thing  had  almost  got  beyond  him. 
He  felt  that  he  w>as  all  right  with  the  old  "  squat- 
ters," whom  he  'uiiderstood  and  who  understood 
him;  but  he  did  not  realize  that  the  new  element, 
the  thousands  of  miners  that  had  floated  in  from 
every  nation  of  the  globe,  did  not  understand  him 
or  his  ways.  They  were  accustomed  to  having 
matters  attended  to  with  despatch,  and  could  not 
tolerate  the  slow  conservatism  and  unchangeable- 
ness  of  the  English  civil  oflSce.  Personally  he  was 
a  good  man  J  but  otherwise,  he  was  as  I  have  de- 
scribed. 

The  first  fruits  of  the  dilatory  policy  was  the 
sacrifice  of  forty  men.  Captain  Wise  and  forty 
of  his  troops  were  cut  to  pieces  by  the  enraged 
miners,  who  had  suddenly  risen  to  fight  for  their 
rights.    Governor  Latrobe  immediately  called  for 

158 


OTHER  AUSTRALIAN  INCIDENTS 

troops  from  New  Zealand,  Tasmania,  and  New 
South  Wales,  to  quell  the  rioters.  The  want  of 
preparation  of  the  revolters  at  once  became  ap- 
parent, and  it  was  known  that  they  had  sent  emis- 
saries into  Melbourne  itself  to  buy  arms  and  am- 
munition. The  head  of  the  insurrection  was  James 
McGill,  who  was  an  American  citizen.  He  had  dis- 
appeared from  the  neighborhood  of  Ballarat,  and  a 
reward  of  one  thousand  pounds  sterling  had  been 
offered  for  his  capture,  dead  or  alive.  In  Mel- 
bourne there  was  almost  a  panic.  Rumors  were 
that  the  forests  were  filled  with  armed  men  march- 
ing to  the  destruction  of  the  place.  There  were,  it 
was  authentically  reported,  800  armed  men  at 
"Warren  Heap,  about  eighty  miles  distant,  who 
were  supposed  to  be  meditating  a  raid.  People 
hastened  to  secrete  their  jewelry,  gold  was  placed 
in  vaults,  the  banks  were  guarded,  and  a  special 
police  force  was  sworn  in. 

Just  as  the  excitement  was  at  its  height,  it  was 
reported  that  James  McGill  was  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  city.  I  was  sitting  in  my  office  one 
morning,  during  these  days  of  fear,  when  a  man 
walked  in,  as  cool  as  if  he  were  merely  going  to 
discuss  the  weather  or  some  trifle  of  business.  "  I 
hear,"  he  said,  "  that  you  have  some  $80,000  worth 
of  Colt's  revolvers  in  stock,  and  I  have  been  sent 
down  here  to  get  them."  I  glanced  up  at  the  man, 
and  took  him  in  a  little  more  closely.  It  came  to 
me  in  a  flash  who  he  was.    "  Do  you  know,"  said 

159 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

I,  "  that  there  is  a  reward  offered  for  your  head 
of  one  thousand  pounds  ?  "  "  That  does  not  mean 
anything,"  he  said,  and  smiled  as  if  it  were  a  joke. 
"  They  can  not  do  anything,"  he  added,  as  if  to 
allay  any  fears  that  I  might  have. 

I  again  took  him  in,  and  thought  of  my  $60,000 
warehouse  that  we  were  then  standing  in,  of  the 
$25,000  warehouse  at  the  other  end  of  the  railway, 
and  of  all  my  interests  in  Melbourne,  under  which 
we  were  placing  a  powder  mine,  and  playing  over 
it  with  lighted  torches.  "  This  will  not  do,"  I  said. 
"  You  have  no  right  to  compromise  me  in  this 
way."  "  We  have  elected  you  president  of  our 
republic,"  he  added.  "  Damn  the  republic  I  "  said 
I.  "  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  refuse  to 
be  our  chief?"  said  he.  "I  do,"  I  said.  "I  am 
not  here  to  lead  or  encourage  revolutions,  but  to 
carry  on  my  business.  I  have  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  governments  or  politics;  and  you  must 
get  out  of  here,  if  you  do  not  want  to  be  hanged 
yourself,  and  ruin  me."  I  told  him  there  was  not 
the  slightest  possibility  of  success,  as  Great  Brit- 
ain would  crush  the  revolt  by  sheer  weight  of  men, 
if  she  could  not  beat  its  leaders  in  any  other  way. 

Just  then  there  came  a  rap  at  the  door,  which 
I  had  taken  the  precaution  to  close  and  lock.  I 
hurried  to  the  door  and  asked  who  was  there,  and 
the  reply  was  that  it  was  Captain  McMahon,  chief 
of  police.  He  said  to  me :  "  Do  you  know  that 
rascal  McGill  is  in  the  city  I    His  men  are  at  War- 

160 


OTHER  AUSTRALIAN  INCIDENTS 

ren  Heap,  but  he  himself  has  actually  come  into 
Melbourne  I  I  want  a  dozen  of  those  Concord  wag- 
ons of  yours  immediately."  I  made  a  motion  of 
my  hand  to  make  McGill  understand  that  he  must 
keep  quiet.  Then  I  began  to  talk  rapidly  with  the 
chief  of  police,  and  took  him  to  the  farther  end  of 
the  warehouse,  shutting  the  door  of  my  office  be- 
hind us.  No  more  wagons  were  there,  for 
the  Government  had  already  got  all  I  had,  but  I 
wanted  time  to  think.  When  we  had  looked 
around,  and  had  seen  that  there  were  no  wagons, 
Captain  McMahon  left,  and  I  hurried  back  to 
McGill. 

"  Now,  McGill,"  I  said,  "  I  am  not  going  to  be- 
tray you,  but  am  going  to  save  your  life.  You 
must  do  as  I  tell  you."  He  looked  at  me  for  a 
moment,  and  said,  "  But  I  am  not  going  back  on 
my  comrades."  "  You  will  have  no  comrades  soon, 
but  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  officers  yourself,  if 
you  do  not  do  exactly  as  I  tell  you."  He  finally 
consented  to  do  as  I  advised. 

As  soon  as  I  saw  that  the  way  was  clear,  I  took 
him  out  into  the  street  to  the  nearest  barber,  where 
I  had  his  hair  cut  and  his  mustache  shaved  off,  and 
then  made  him  put  on  a  workman's  suit  of  clothes. 
We  then  got  into  my  chaise,  and  I  drove  him  down 
to  the  bay  and  took  him  aboard  one  of  our  ships 
that  was  about  to  sail,  and  told  the  men  that  I  had 
brought  a  new  stevedore.  McGill  pitched  in  and 
worked  along  with  the  men,  and  there  was  nothing 

161 


]VIY  LIFE  IX  MANY  STATES 

to  show  that  he  was  in  any  vrav  connected  with 
the  revolution  of  Ballarat,  much  less  its  leader. 

Three  days  later  the  ship  sailed,  and  McGill 
went  on  through  England  to  America.  This  ended 
the  whole  affair  of  the  revolution,  the  chase  of  the 
leader,  and  my  chance  of  being  President  of  the 
Five-Star  Republic! 

One  day  a  man,  wearing  a  jaunty  silk  hat,  came 
into  my  office.  "  I  see  you  bring  in  rum  from  New 
England,"  said  he.  "  How  much  have  you  on 
hand  1 "  I  went  over  the  invoices,  and  told  him. 
He  then  asked  if  I  gave  the  same  terms  as  other 
dealers  in  Melbourne.  "  Yes,"  said  I ;  "  cash." 
"  Oh,  no,"  said  he.  "  I  get  three  months'  time." 
He  showed  me  a  contract  he  had  just  signed  with 
Denniston  Brothers  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  repre- 
sented in  Melbourne  by  McCullagh  &  Sellars,  for 
£3,000  payable  in  three  months.  I  was  astonished. 
The  house  had  branches  in  all  of  the  great  cities 
of  the  world.  I  told  the  gentlemanly-looking  fel- 
low who  wanted  the  rum  that  if  Denniston  could 
afford  to  trust  him  for  $15,000, 1  thought  we  could 
trust  him  for  $3,000.  I  took  pains  to  see,  however, 
that  our  paper  bore  an  earlier  date  than  that  of 
Denniston.  But  this  precaution  amounted  to  noth- 
ing against  this  shrewd  manipulator.  He  gave  his 
name  as  John  Boyd. 

By  the  end  of  the  week,  I  began  to  grow  a  little 
suspicious,  and  sent  my  clerk  to  the  office  of  Mr. 
Boyd  early  on  Monday  morning.    The  office  was 

162 


OTHER  AUSTKALIAX  I^X1DENTS 

closed,  and  there  was  no  Mr.  Boyd  there.  He  had 
gone  to  Sydney,  and  that  was  the  last  seen  of 
Boyd  in  Australia.  He  had  "  buncoed  "  us  and 
Denniston  &  Co.  in  the  easiest  sort  of  way.  I 
really  felt  cheated,  it  was  done  so  smoothlv.  I 
had  not  got  the  worth  of  my  money,  as  I  should 
have  done  had  I  been  harder  to  deceive.  There 
had  been  no  sport  in  that. 

I  next  heard  of  Boyd  at  Singapore ;  but  I  was 
to  run  up  against  him  later.  In  '61,  when  I  was 
gi\'ing  a  junketing  trip  to  some  people  on  the 
Union  Pacific  road,  and  a  party  of  us  were  on  the 
steamboat  St.  Joseph  going  to  Omaha,  a  man  came 
up  to  me  and  claimed  an  acquaintance.  Although 
more  than  twelve  years  had  passed,  I  recognized 
him  at  once  as  the  John  Boyd  who  had  got  the  bet- 
ter of  me  in  that  little  trade  in  Melbourne.  I  pre- 
tended not  to  know  him.  I  suppose  he  assumed 
that  the  matter  had  passed  out  of  my  mind  and 
that  his  face  was  no  longer  familiar  to  me.  He 
coolly  gave  me  his  address  on  a  card,  and  when  I 
looked  at  it  I  saw  "  Noble  &  Co.,  Bankers,  Des 
Moines,  Iowa."  I  knew  him  by  his  broken  nose, 
that  would  have  betrayed  him  at  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

Perhaps  the  thing  I  enjoyed  most  in  Australia 
was  the  introduction  of  American  articles — "  Yan- 
kee notions,"  the  people  there  called  them — into 
Australia,  even  against  the  prejudice  of  the  col- 
onists.   They  would  fight  hard  against  everything 

163 


MY  LIFE   m  MANY   STATES 

that  was  new  or  American,  but  I  took  a  delight  in 
overcoming  their  bias,  and  forcing  them  to  accept 
our  ideas.  I  made  a  calculation  once  of  the  things 
that  I  had  introduced  into  Australia,  and  they 
amounted  to  something  like  fifty.  Among  these 
were  such  common  things  as  the  light  wagon,  the 
buggy,  shovels,  and  hoes,  and — wonderful  to  think 
of  when  one  hears  and  reads  so  much  in  these  days 
of  the  "  tins  "  that  the  British  army  consumes — 
tinned,  or  canned,  goods.  These  had  not  been 
heard  of,  and  I  saw  at  once  that  there  was  a  fine 
chance  for  some  profitable  business.  English 
packers  could  not  begin  to  compete  with  us.  On 
one  cargo  that  I  brought  in  from  New  London, 
Conn.,  we  made  a  profit  of  200  per  cent.  And  now 
"  Tommy  Atkins  "  lives  on  the  "  tins  "  that  we  in- 
troduced as  a  method  of  carrying  provisions  from 
one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other. 

I  suppose  that  it  was  from  a  part  of  the  returns 
from  this  profitable  shipment  that  the  owners  of 
the  goods  founded  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Noro- 
ton,  Conn.,  during  the  civil  war.  I  must  record 
here  a  curious  incident.  It  was  in  this  home  that 
a  soldier  carved  a  most  elaborate  design  upon  a 
cane  which  he  gave  to  me,  showing  in  brief  out- 
line the  whole  of  my  history.  It  was  a  wonderful 
piece  of  work,  and  I  have  kept  it  as  a  souvenir  of 
the  regard  of  this  soldier  in  the  home  that  was 
probably  founded  in  part  with  the  proceeds  of  the 
first  great  shipment  of  canned  goods  into  Austra- 

164 


OTHER  AUSTRALIAN  INCIDENTS 

lia,  and  of  my  part  in  introducing  this  new  trade 
into  the  South  Seas. 

I  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting  some  famous 
and  curious  people  in  Australia.  On  one  of  the 
celebrations  of  the  17th  of  March,  I  met  a  great 
many  Irish  patriots,  among  them  Smith  O'Brien, 
John  Martin,  and  Donohue.  I  was  an  invited 
guest,  and  sat  down  with  more  than  two  hundred 
of  the  most  prominent  Irishmen  of  the  Austral- 
asian colonies.  When  Smith  O'^^rien  was  in  an 
Irish  jail  in  '48,  I  asked  him  for  his  autograph.  I 
have  made  it  a  point  to  collect  the  autographs  of 
all  the  famous  men  and  women  I  have  met,  and 
now  have,  perhaps,  the  finest  collection  of  auto- 
graphs to  be  seen  in  this  country.  O'Brien  im- 
mediately wrote  on  a  card  the  following  verse : 

"Whether  on  a  gallows  high, 
Or  in  the  battle's  van, 
The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die, 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man." 

This  sentiment  of  the  Irish  poet  was  peculiarly 
appropriate  for  men,  who,  like  the  patriots  and 
"  rebels  "  about  me,  were  facing  prison  or  death 
at  every  hour. 

I  shall  bring  together  here  some  incidents  of 
my  life  in  Australia  that  are  not  closely  connected 
with  other  events  there.  We  made  some  tremen- 
dous profits  in  Melbourne,  the  sort  that  makes 
one's  blood  tingle,  and  transforms  cool  men  into 
wild  speculators.    I  have  already  mentioned  the 

165 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

profit  of  200  per  cent  on  the  cargo  of  canned 
goods.  On  a  cargo  of  flour  from  Boston,  7,000 
barrels,  we  made  a  profit  of  200  per  cent,  the  flour 
selling  for  £4  sterling  the  barrel.  This  flour  had 
been  shipped  to  us  through  John  M.  Forbes,  of 
Boston,  for  Philo  Shelton  and  Moses  Taylor,  the 
millionaire  of  New  York. 

When  I  returned  to  New  York  in  '57,  during 
the  panic,  I  met  Taylor  in  Wall  Street.  He  must 
have  been  in  terrible  need  of  money  to  keep  his 
head  above  water,  and  he  at  once  said  to  me: 
"  Why  did  you  charge  me  7^  per  cent  commission 
for  handling  that  cargo  of  flour  in  Melbourne?" 
I  looked  at  him  in  astonishment.  He  had  forgot- 
ten the  enormous  profit  he  had  made  on  the  ship- 
ment, and  remembered  now  only  the  small  matter 
of  the  commission  he  had  been  compelled  to  pay. 

I  replied  that  the  commission  was  our  usual 
charge.  He  told  me  he  was  buying  up  his  own 
paper  in  the  street,  and  was  not  in  temporary  dis- 
tress. "  I  do  not  think  you  should  have  charged 
me  more  than  5  per  cent  commission,"  he  said.  I 
was  disgusted  at  this  view  of  a  transaction  that 
had  brought  him  in  a  profit  that  would  have  been 
considered  marvelous  even  by  a  usurer.  "All 
right,"  I  said,  "I  will  give  you  the  difference 
now."    And  I  gave  him  a  check  for  $2,500. 

I  met  a  large  number  of  actors  and  actresses 
in  Melbourne,  for  it  was  quite  the  custom  as  early 
as  that  for  stars  of  the  stage,  whether  tragedians 

166 


OTHER  AUSTRALIAN  INCIDENTS 

like  Edwin  Booth,  or  dancers  like  Lola  Montez,  to 
make  a  tour  of  the  world  and  take  in  Australia  on 
the  circuit.  I  was  astonished  to  meet  Booth  and 
Laura  Keene,  "  stranded,"  one  day,  although  they 
had  made  a  successful  tour  in  England.  They  did 
not  appeal  to  the  rough  audiences  of  Australia, 
and  so  did  not  have  enough  money  to  take  them 
back  to  the  States.  It  so  happened  that  I  had 
just  bought  the  City  of  Norfolk  to  send  to  San 
Francisco  as  the  pioneer  of  a  new  line,  which  is 
now  thoroughly  established,  and  making  rapid  pas- 
sages between  the  two  ports.  I  gave  them  free 
passage  to  San  Francisco.  Laura  Keene  frequent- 
ly mentioned  the  fact  in  "  asides  "  on  the  stage, 
but  I  never  received  a  word  of  thanks  or  apprecia- 
tion from  Booth.  Kate  Hayes  and  Bushnell  also 
visited  Australia  while  I  was  there,  and  I  gave 
them  a  concert  and  started  them  off  on  their  tour. 
But  the  greatest  sensation  that  was  created  in 
the  theatrical  world  of  Australia  during  my  stay 
was  made  by  Lola  Montez,  the  dancer  from  Mad- 
rid. She  danced  and  pirouetted  on  the  necks 
and  hearts  of  men.  The  rough  mining  element 
went  wild  over  her,  and  she  had  the  wealth  and 
rank  of  Melbourne  at  her  feet.  One  morning  she 
burst  into  my  office,  and  called  out  in  her  quaint 
accent,  "  Is  Mr.  George  Francis  Train  here  1  Tell 
him  that  I  am  his  old  friend  from  Boston,  and 
that  I  have  just  arrived  from  San  Francisco."  She 
had  called  to  make  a  complaint  against  the  captain 

167 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


of  our  ship,  whom  she  wanted  us  to  discharge  for 
some  supposed  discourtesy  to  her.  We  patched 
up  this  quarrel,  and  I  did  everything  I  could  to 
insure  her  a  successful  season  in  Melbourne.  She 
had  a  tremendous  vogue,  and  danced  before 
crowded  houses. 

One  night  I  called  at  the  green-room  of  the 
theater  to  see  her,  sending  in  my  card.  I  had 
seated  myself  on  the  sofa  to  wait  until  she  finished 
her  dancing.  Suddenly  the  door  flew  open,  and 
in  rushed  something  that  looked  like  a  great  ball 
of  feathers.  This  ball  flew  toward  me  and  I  was 
enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  lace!  The  bold  little 
dancer  had  thrown  her  foot  over  my  head ! 

My  life  in  Australia,  now  drawing  to  a  close, 
as  I  had  made  arrangements  for  leaving  there  to 
continue  my  business  operations  in  Japan,  had 
been  very  charming  and  profitable.  Everything 
was  novel  and  strange  to  me,  and  it  all  made  a 
deep  and  lasting  impression  upon  my  mind,  which 
was  then  eagerly  receptive. 

I  find,  in  recalling  these  impressions,  that  my 
first  idea  of  Australia  still  remains  the  most  prom- 
inent one  left  in  my  memory.  Australia  was  truly 
the  antipodes.  Everything  seemed  to  be  reversed, 
a  topsy-turvy  land.  At  Botany  Bay  I  was  aston- 
ished to  find  the  swans  were  black,  thereby  de- 
molishing our  beautiful  ideas  about  "  milk-white  " 
swans.  The  birds  talked,  screamed,  or  brayed,  in- 
stead of  singing,  and  the  trees  shed  their  bark  in- 

168 


OTHER  AUSTRALIAN  INCIDENTS 


stead  of  their  leaves.  The  big  end  of  the  pears 
was  at  the  stem,  and  cherry-stones  grew  on  the 
outside  of  the  fruit.  I  was  sitting  one  day  in  the 
garden  of  the  governor-general  when  I  thought  I 
felt  some  one  tap  me  on  the  shoulder.  Then  my 
coat  was  wrenched  off  my  back,  and  I  turned  just 
in  time  to  see  it  disappear  down  the  throat  of  a 
tame  Australian  ostrich,  called  an  emu.  The  bird 
had  taken  me  for  a  vegetable. 

Sidney  Smith  describes  the  kangaroo  as  an  ani- 
mal with  the  head  of  a  rabbit,  the  body  of  a  deer,  a 
tail  like  a  bed-post,  and  which,  when  in  danger,  puts 
its  young  into  a  pocket  in  its  stomach.  But  the 
most  marvelous  of  all  the  queer  things  of  Austra- 
lia, to  my  mind,  was  the  animal  that  laid  eggs  like 
a  hen,  suckled  its  young  like  a  goat,  and  was  web- 
footed,  like  a  duck.  This  was  the  duckbill,  or  water- 
mole,  which  the  Australians  called  the  Patybus. 

I  also  saw  in  Tasmania,  and  on  Flinder's  Is- 
land, the  race  of  men  that  was  then  considered  the 
most  remarkable  on  the  globe,  the  original  Tasma- 
nian  savages;  and  I  saw,  also,  the  most  curious 
weapon  that  man  has  ever  invented,  the  boomer- 
ang. Holmes  has  described  this  weapon  in  one  of 
his  humorous  verses: 

"The  boomerang,  -which  the  Australian  throws, 
Cuts  its  own  circle,  and  hits  you  on  the  nose." 

I  got  one  of  the  Bushmen  to  throw  his  boomerang 
for  me.  He  threw  it  around  a  tree  and  the  missile 
came  back  toward  us.    I  fully  expected  to  be  sent 

169 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

sprawling.  It  dropped  almost  at  the  feet  of  the 
savage  that  threw  it.  Even  gold  in  that  land  is 
found  where  it  all  ends  in  our  country — in 
pockets ! 

Before  closing  the  account  of  my  Australian 
experiences,  I  want  to  record  that  when  I  arrived 
in  Melbourne  that  flourishing  port  was  in  a  hor- 
rible condition  for  a  city  of  its  size  and  impor- 
tance. Its  streets  were  such  as  would  not  have 
been  tolerated  in  an  American  city  of  half  its  size 
or  one  tenth  its  wealth.  There  were  practically 
no  public  works.  After  I  had  been  there  for  some 
little  time,  a  plan  was  put  on  foot  to  improve  the 
city.  It  moved  along  very  slowly,  as  no  one 
seemed  to  know  exactly  what  to  do,  or  how  to  do 
it.  Finally,  an  elaborate  program  was  drawn  up, 
and  all  that  was  needed  to  carry  it  out  was  the 
money,  which  would  have  to  be  borrowed. 

The  chairman  of  the  improvement  committee, 
or  whatever  it  was  called,  came  to  see  me  to  get 
me  to  undertake  the  floating  of  the  necessary  loan. 
I  suggested  a  number  of  improvements,  such  as 
fire-engines,  better  office  buildings,  better  paved 
streets,  and  new  gas-works.  All  of  these  sugges- 
tions were  accepted,  and  I  forecast  the  floating 
of  the  loan.  They  got  the  money  in  London,  and 
Melbourne  was  remodeled,  so  far  as  its  appear- 
ance was  concerned,  and  was  finally  made  one  of 
the  most  attractive  cities  in  the  British  colonies. 
It  now  has  a  population  of  half  a  million. 

170 


CHAPTER   XIII 

A  VOYAGE  TO   CHINA 
1855 

I  HAVE  already  referred  to  my  purpose  of 
going  to  Japan  to  establish  a  branch  business 
there.  This  idea  came  to  me  in  Australia,  after 
Commodore  Perry  had  opened  the  country  to  for- 
eigners. It  has  always  been  my  desire  to  be  first 
on  the  ground,  and  I  saw  that  Japan  offered  the 
greatest  possible  opportunities  for  trade  of  all 
sorts.  I  had  fixed  upon  Yokohama  as  the  place 
in  which  to  open  our  branch  house.  The  rapid 
development  of  that  city  since  then,  under  new 
conditions,  and  the  tremendous  increase  of  its 
trade  with  Europe  and  America,  as  well  as  with 
India,  China,  and  Australasia,  have  well  justified 
my  early  judgment.  I  knew  we  could  acquire  great 
influence  in  the  world  of  commerce,  and  become, 
perhaps,  the  greatest  shipping  house  of  the  globe, 
with  branch  houses  at  Boston,  Liverpool,  Mel- 
bourne, and  Yokohama. 

This  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  give  the  rea- 
sons for  the  failure  of  these  ambitious  plans.  I 
13  171 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

had  gradually  worked  out  the  whole  program,  giv- 
ing to  it  hours  and  days  of  careful  and  painstaking 
examination.  I  felt  that  the  scheme  was  abso- 
lutely safe  from  every  point  of  view.  It  was  big 
and  almost  grandiose ;  but  I  felt  it  was  sure  to  re- 
sult in  vast  fortunes,  in  the  building  up  of  a  trade 
that  the  world  had  never  before  conceived  or 
dreamed  of,  and  in  the  development  of  American 
commerce. 

In  fact,  I  see  now  that  I  was  more  than  half 
a  century  ahead  of  J.  Pierpont  Morgan.  I  should 
have  formed  a  great  shipping  and  navigation 
business  that  would  have  dwarfed  anything  else 
of  the  kind  in  the  world.  My  plan  was  not  lim- 
ited to  a  few  lines  of  ships  between  Europe  and 
New  York.  It  was  not  confined  to  an  Atlantic 
ferry.  I  foresaw,  as  I  fancied,  American  ships 
dominating  the  trade  of  all  oceans.  I  saw  the 
American  merchant  flag  in  every  port  of  the  Pa- 
cific, Indian,  and  Atlantic  oceans,  and  doing  the 
carrying  trade  of  the  world.  I  had  some  such 
vague  idea  when  I  introduced  the  fast  clipper 
service  between  Boston,  New  York,  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, and,  again,  when  I  organized  the  fast  sailing- 
ship  service  between  Boston  and  Australia.  But 
I  did  not  see  it  all  clear  before  me,  as  I  saw  it  in 
Australia.     The  Orient  had  cleared  my  eyes. 

Of  course,  my  first  thought  was  for  the  up- 
building of  our  house.  I  wanted  it  to  take  the 
leading  part  in  the  stupendous  task,  and  to  become 

172 


A  VOYAGE  TO  CHINA 


the  first  house  of  the  world.  All  this  could  have 
been  accomplished,  except  that  I  had  to  contend 
against  the  conservatism  of  New  England,  and  the 
very  easily  understood  desire  of  Colonel  Train 
that  his  house  should  directly  own  all  its  ships. 
This  was,  of  course,  impossible.  He  could  not 
own  them,  but  he  might  control  them.  I  urged 
upon  him  the  policy  of  retaining  a  controlling  in- 
terest only,  and  letting  others  come  in,  bringing 
the  capital  we  should  need  for  the  greater  enter- 
prise. This  was  my  idea  of  "  combination,"  of  a 
great  "  shipping  combine,"  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury before  it  was  undertaken,  in  another  way,  by 
Mr.  Morgan  and  his  associates. 

Colonel  Train's  persistent  demand  that  he 
should  own  all  the  ships,  put  an  end  to  the  plan. 
It  not  only  put  an  end  to  a  grand  project,  but  put 
an  end  to  his  business.  He  was  soon  confronted 
with  difficulties.  The  business  had  outgrown  him 
and  his  limited  means,  had  become  unwieldy  and 
unmanageable.  As  I  had  foreseen,  it  needed  more 
men,  more  minds,  more  money;  and  these  were 
not  forthcoming.  And  so,  in  '57,  Colonel  Train 
was  forced  down,  literally  crushed  beneath  the 
weight  of  his  own  undertakings,  as  Tarpeia  was 
crushed  beneath  the  Sabine  shields.  He  was  the 
victim  of  his  desire  to  own  and  dominate  every- 
thing. 

Two  years  before  this  collapse  of  a  great  idea, 
I  left  Australia  for  Japan,  by  way  of  Java,  Sin- 

173 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY  STATES 

gapore,  and  China,  with  high  hopes.  I  had  visions, 
which  were  to  accompany  me  for  a  year  or  two 
more,  and  then  I  had  to  abandon  them  and  turn 
my  attention  to  other  fields.  From  Melbourne,  I 
sailed  on  the  Dashing  Wave.  Has  it  ever  occurred 
to  any  one  who  writes  or  thinks  of  the  old  days 
of  sailing  vessels,  those  winged  ships,  that  the  very 
names  of  boats  have  changed,  indicating  the  trans- 
formation from  romance  to  reality,  from  poetry  to 
mere  prose  and  work-a-day  business?  In  those 
days  we  had  beautiful  and  suggestive  names  for 
ships,  just  as  we  ought  to  try  to  find  beautiful  and 
suggestive  names  for  all  truly  beautiful  and  lov- 
able things.  Now  we  send  out  our  City  of  Paris, 
or  St.  Louis,  or  St.  Paul,  or  the  Minneapolis,  or 
the  Astoria,  or  Kentucky,  or  Blaamanden,  or  Rot- 
terdam, or  Ryndam,  or  Noordam.  Then  we  had 
such  names  as  Flying  Cloud,  the  clipper  that  short- 
ened the  distance  between  the  ends  of  the  world; 
the  Sovereign  of  the  Seas,  the  Monarch  of  the 
Ocean,  the  Flying  Arrow,  the  Sea  Eagle.  The 
Dashing  Wave,  Captain  Fiske,  carried  me  to  Ba- 
tavia  in  twenty-six  days.  We  were  accompanied, 
for  a  portion  of  the  trip,  by  the  Flying  Arrow. 

At  Anjer,  in  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  the  Malays 
came  off  to  the  ship  in  their  little  boats  with  pro- 
visions of  all  sorts  to  sell.  Every  one  of  them 
had  letters  of  recommendation,  as  they  thought, 
from  the  English  captains  and  officers  who  had 
previously  traded  with  them;  but  these  letters,  if 

174 


A  VOYAGE  TO   CHINA 


they  could  have  been  translated  for  their  posses- 
sors, would  have  been  instantly  cast  into  the  sea 
and  a  general  riot  perhaps  would  have  followed. 
One  of  the  letters  read  something  like  this :  "  If 
this  black  thief  brings  any  eggs  to  sell  to  you, 
don't  buy  them,  as  they  are  always  rotten.  He 
may  also  try  to  sell  you  a  rooster,  but  don't  buy  it, 
as  it  is  the  same  cock  that  crew  when  Peter  denied 
Jesus."  Of  course  everybody  on  the  ship  roared 
with  laughter  as  each  letter  was  handed  up  to  us 
and  read  aloud  for  the  edification  of  all.  The  sim- 
ple Malays  guffawed  loudly  in  their  boats,  think- 
ing that  we  were  heartily  pleased  with  them  and 
their  wares.  When  next  I  passed  through  the 
Sunda  Straits,  Krakatoa  had  been  at  work  in  erup- 
tion and  had  completely  changed  the  face  of  the 
coast,  and  Anjer  itself  and  the  little  island  it  stood 
on  were  gone. 

This  Dutch  colony  was  a  revelation  to  me  in 
every  way.  I  had  never  seen  anything  at  all  like 
it  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  and  was  never 
again  to  see  anything  quite  so  quaint  or  so  delight- 
ful. The  ride  from  Batavia  to  the  hotel  was  full 
of  surprises.  I  was  accompanied  by  a  troop  of 
little  children,  all  of  them  pressing  close  up  to  us 
and  ciying  for  "  doits  " — small  copper  coins.  I 
scattered  these  little  coins  among  them  again  and 
again,  but  they  could  never  get  enough,  but  kept 
on  crying,  "doit,  doitl"  Then  the  color  of  the 
trees,  the  rich  shades  of  the  flowers  that  flourished 

175 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

everywliere,  the  beauty  of  the  scenery — all  was  a 
delightful  surprise.  I  have  never  seen  elsewhere 
so  many  or  such  rare  flowers.  The  whole  island 
of  Java,  as  I  was  soon  to  learn,  is  a  vast  botanical 
garden,  far  more  beautiful  and  rare  than  any  that 
science  can  create.  Nature,  the  great  horticultu- 
rist, has  here  done  her  best  and  final  work.  The 
air,  too,  was  delicious.  It  was  perfumed  by  flow- 
ers, aromatic  herbs,  and  spices.  I  had  never  real- 
ized before  what  was  meant  by  the  legends  of  the 
"  Spice  Islands,"  and  I  fancied  that  here  was  the 
place  for  man  to  live  and  die. 

I  drove  to  the  residence  of  the  governor-gen- 
eral at  Buitenzorg,  thirty-five  miles  south  of  Ba- 
tavia,  which  was  situated  in  a  tremendous  garden 
of  flowers  and  trees.  It  was  the  most  beautiful 
place  I  had  ever  seen,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  I 
have  never  seen  anything  more  beautiful  since.  I 
was  so  delighted  with  Java,  indeed,  that  I  had  a 
model  of  a  Javanese  village  made  for  me,  and 
shipped  it  home  to  my  wife  with  the  greatest  care. 
What  was  my  surprise,  when  I  finally  reached 
home,  and  asked  eagerly  if  the  model  had  been 
received,  to  be  told  that  nothing  had  been  seen  of 
it.  "  Didn't  something  come  from  me  from 
Java?"  Oh,  yes,  something  had  come,  but  it 
looked  so  big  and  uninteresting  that  it  had  been 
put  down  in  the  cellar.  And  there  my  beautiful 
model  of  the  Javanese  village  had  lain,  in  igno- 
miny, for  years  I    I  restored  it  to  its  proper  posi- 

176 


A  VOYAGE  TO  CHINA 


tion  in  the  world,  by  sending  it  to  the  Boston 
Museum.  It  was  lost  in  the  fire  that  soon  after- 
ward destroyed  that  building. 

It  was  in  Java  that  I  first  learned  to  love 
flowers,  and  I  have  loved  them  more  and  more 
every  year  of  my  life  since.  The  natives  of  that 
wonderful  island  love  to  strew  flowers  over  every- 
thing, and  to  garland  everything  with  beautiful 
blossoms.  I  soon  became  infatuated  with  the  cus- 
tom of  carrying  flowers,  and  adopted  the  bouton- 
niere,  which  I  afterward  introduced  in  Paris  in 
*56,  in  London  in  '57,  and  in  New  York  in  '58. 
I  have  endeavored  to  wear  a  spray  of  flowers  in 
the  lapel  of  my  coat  every  day  since  my  visit  to 
Java. 

There  was  one  particularly  pleasing  custom, 
which  I  think  should  have  been  long  ago  introduced 
in  this  country.  This  was  the  fashion  of  bringing 
in  fruit  to  the  table  covered  with  flowers.  It  is  a 
custom  that  delights  three  senses  at  once — the 
smell,  the  sight,  the  taste.  The  first  time  I  saw  it 
was  at  the  table  of  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid,  when  he 
gave  a  dinner  to  me  and  my  friends.  After  we 
had  finished  eating,  I  was  asked  if  I  did  not  wish 
for  some  of  the  fruit.  I  looked  around  and  could 
not  see  fruit  anywhere.  In  front  of  me  were  great 
masses  of  flowers  in  baskets,  and  I  could  readily 
detect  the  odor  of  fruits  of  various  kinds,  but  they 
were  invisible.  I  had  almost  decided  that  they 
were   outside  in  the  garden,   and  that  possibly 

177 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

we  were  expected  to  pluck  them  from  the  trees, 
which,  heavily  laden  with  their  burdens,  hung 
temptingly  against  the  windows.  But  no,  the  fruit 
was  immediately  before  me,  hidden  beneath  masses 
of  cut  flowers,  in  trays  and  baskets.  I  thought  it  a 
beautiful  custom,  and  one  that  distinctly  appeals 
to  esthetic  taste.  It  could  well  be  introduced  at 
Newport  or  Saratoga,  or  in  Fifth  Avenue  man- 
sions. 

I  regretted  that  Great  Britain  had  lost,  through 
a  piece  of  carelessness,  these  magnificent  islands 
now  controlled  by  Holland;  although  the  Dutch 
have  done  about  as  well  as  any  other  people  could 
have  done,  I  suppose.  I  believe  it  was  because 
Lord  Canning  did  not  open  his  eastern  mail  one 
morning,  that  these  islands  became  a  possession 
of  Holland  instead  of  Great  Britain. 

I  did  not,  on  the  occasion  of  my  first  visit,  see 
anything  of  the  Achinese.  But  I  passed,  in  '92, 
on  my  last  trip  around  the  world,  the  northwestern 
end  of  Sumatra,  and  Captain  Hogg,  of  the  Moy- 
une,  pointed  to  the  little  town  of  Achin,  built  on 
piles.  He  said  that  in  the  interior  the  Dutch  were 
still  fighting  the  Achinese.  They  had  then  been 
fighting  these  desperate  Mohammedans — convert- 
ed Malays — for  thirty  years.  I  have  since  thought, 
having  in  view  this  prolonged  struggle  for  free- 
dom of  the  Mohammedan  Malays  of  Sumatra,  how 
desperate  is  our  undertaking  in  the  Philippines, 
where  we  are  trying  to  subjugate  a  far  larger 

178 


A  VOYAGE  TO  CHINA 


population  of  Mohammedans,  the  Moros  of 
the  southern  islands  of  the  archipelago.  Hol- 
land, I  believe,  has  spent  already  something 
like  500,000,000  florins  to  exterminate  the  Achi- 
nese.  It  may  cost  us  far  more  to  exterminate  the 
Moros. 

I  left  Batavia  for  Singapore  on  a  Dutch  man- 
of-war.  Captain  Fabius.  We  stopped  first  at  the 
island  of  Banka,  belonging  to  Holland,  and  I  saw 
there  the  famous  tin-mines,  which  are  greater  than 
those  of  Cornwall,  England.  They  were  the  prop- 
erty of  the  brother  of  the  King  of  Holland.  We 
did  not  stop  at  Sarawak,  because  of  the  little  war 
that  "  Kajah  "  Brooke,  afterward  known  as  Sara- 
wak Brooke,  was  carrying  on  there.  AYe  arrived 
at  Singapore  just  too  late  to  meet  Townsend 
Harris,  the  first  American  diplomatic  repre- 
sentative to  Japan,  as  he  had  gone  up  to  Siam. 
Harris's  visit  to  Japan  was  the  real  beginning 
of  a  new  era  in  the  trade  of  the  far  East,  and 
no  other  diplomatic  mission  in  the  history  of 
this  country  has  been  fraught  with  greater  re- 
sults. 

Singapore  was  then  a  port  of  much  dirtiness 
and  much  business.  All  the  vessels  of  the  world 
came  there,  and  the  greatest  variety  of  cargoes 
that  I  have  ever  seen.  The  most  interesting  thing 
I  saw  there  was  the  magnificent  home  of  a  great 
Chinese  millionaire,  who  managed  the  largest 
business  in  Singapore,  or,  indeed,  in  that  part  of 

179 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY  STATES 


the  world.  He  had  a  splendid  palace,  surrounded 
by  beautiful  and  extensive  gardens,  the  whole  be- 
ing worthy  of  a  king  or  emperor.  Here  he  lived 
in  the  style  of  some  barbaric  prince.  This  China- 
man had  established  in  Singapore  the  kind  of  store 
which  we  in  America  think  we  invented — the  de- 
partment store.  But  I  learned  afterward  when  I 
went  to  China,  that  the  department  store  is  com- 
mon there,  and  had  been  known  for  hundreds,  per- 
haps thousands,  of  years.  This  development  of 
the  store  is  as  old  as  the  civilization  of  the  Cau- 
casian race,  and,  perhaps,  was  known  to  China 
ages  before  America  was  discovered.  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  receiving  an  invitation  to  visit  the 
Chinaman  in  his  palace,  and  was  astounded  by  the 
extensive  grandeur  of  everything.  He  had  a  pas- 
sion for  animals,  and  owned  two  tigers  in  cages 
that  were  the  largest  animals  of  their  kind  I  have 
ever  seen. 

From  Singapore,  I  sailed  for  China  on  a  P.  & 
O.  steamer.  On  board  I  met  Dr.  Parker,  the  new 
American  minister  to  China,  and  my  roommate 
was  Alexander  Collie,  of  Manchester,  England, 
who,  during  our  civil  war,  became  the  chief  Eng- 
lish blockade  runner.  I  may  as  well  dispose  of 
my  experiences  with  Collie  while  I  have  him  be- 
fore me.  Collie  operated  his  blockade-running 
business  through  the  London  and  Westminster 
'(Limited)  Bank.  When  I  was  in  England  I  dis- 
covered the  nature  of  his  work,  and  exposed  him 

180 


A  VOYAGE  TO  CHINA 


through  correspondence  in  the  New  York  Herald. 
This  led  to  the  breaking  down  of  his  enterprise, 
and  to  the  bank's  loss  of  £500,000  sterling.  Collie 
escaped  arrest  by  fleeing  to  Spain.  I  have  never 
heard  of  him  since. 


181 


CHAPTER   XIV 

IN   CHINESE   CITIES 
1855-1856 

At  Hongkong  I  went  to  our  correspondents, 
iWilliams,  Anthon  &  Co.,  and  took  passage  in  En- 
dicott's  little  steamer,  the  Spark,  for  Macao,  the 
Portuguese  port  of  China.  Before  leaving  Hong- 
kong, however,  as  I  had  some  little  time  on  my 
hands,  I  determined  to  see  everything  that  was  to 
be  seen  there.  I  had  the  remarkable  experience 
of  meeting  the  man  who  was  afterward  the  hus- 
band of  Hetty  Green.  This  was  E.  H.  Green,  who 
was  married  twelve  years  later.  He  was  then  con- 
nected with  the  house  of  Russell  &  Sturgis,  our 
correspondents  in  Manila,  and  he  joined  me  for 
the  trip  to  Macao  and  Canton.  After  a  short 
stay  in  Hongkong,  we  went  on  to  Macao  and 
Canton. 

We  had,  on  this  voyage,  the  common  experi- 
ences of  Chinese  waters — pirates  and  typhoons. 
At  the  Boca  Tigris,  the  mouth  of  the  Canton,  or 
Pearl,  river,  we  were  overtaken  by  the  typhoon, 
and  we  had  to  anchor  near  an  island  in  the  midst 

182 


IN  CHINESE  CITIES 


of  a  number  of  junks.  These  soon  proved  to  be 
pirate  ships,  and  we  were,  apparently,  in  great 
danger.  The  pirates  immediately  began  to  draw 
up  about  us,  as  if  meditating  an  attack.  The  little 
Spark  would,  of  course,  stand  no  chance  in  such  a 
contest.  I  did  not  think  she  could  last  ten  min- 
utes in  a  fight  with  those  ugly  junks. 

The  Chinese  anchored  their  boats  up  close  to 
the  Spark,  and  I  noticed  that  a  dozen  of  the  ugli- 
est ruffians  our  own  sailors  had  ever  encountered 
were  staring  in  through  the  cabin  windows.  I 
could  not  imagine  what  they  were  looking  at,  and 
went  forward  to  see  what  was  wrong.  There  was 
Mr.  Green,  sitting  facing  the  window,  his  feet  on 
the  table,  and  making  faces  at  the  crew.  He  was 
the  coolest  man,  I  think,  that  I  ever  saw.  Noth- 
ing moved  him  out  of  his  imperturbable  calm. 
The  Chinamen  were  scowling  at  him,  but  this  did 
not  at  all  disconcert  him.  If  he  was  going  to  be 
killed  by  these  devils,  he  seemed  to  be  thinking, 
he  might  as  well  die  in  a  cheerful  humor.  How 
could  he  know  they  were  not  pirates  in  disguise? 

The  pirates  expected  that  we  should  fall  an 
easy  prey  into  their  hands,  as  our  coal  had  given 
out,  and  there  was  no  assistance  within  reach.  We 
were  in  a  dilemma,  but  we  attacked  the  woodwork 
of  the  deck,  and  got  enough  to  fire  up  the  engines 
and  get  a  head  of  steam,  when  suddenly,  to  the 
amazement  of  the  pirates,  we  steamed  out  and 
away.    The    storm   having    subsided,    the   junks 

183 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


were  soon  left  far  behind  and  we  reached  Macao 
safely. 

Macao  was  at  that  time  the  headquarters  of 
the  new  slave  trade.  I  went  to  the  top  of  a  high 
hill  for  the  purpose  of  looking  at  the  barracoons, 
where  slaves  were  kept.  The  barracoon  is,  in 
meaning,  a  little  barrack,  but  it  is,  in  reality,  a 
pest-hole.  Here  were  gathered  the  Chinese  who 
were  to  be  sent  as  victims  and  slaves  to  the  Peru- 
vian islands.  The  practise  was  to  bring  China- 
men from  the  interior  by  telling  them  of  the  great 
riches  their  countrymen  had  found  in  America, 
which  was  then  a  name  that  tempted  all  Chinamen 
of  the  coast  regions.  Many  Chinamen,  it  was 
known,  had  gone  to  America  and  done  well,  and 
the  wretches  that  the  slave-dealers  wanted  to  ship 
to  Peru  were  told  that  they  would  be  sent  to  Amer- 
ica. They  thought  they  were  going  to  California ; 
but  they  were  shipped  to  the  Chincha  islands,  near 
Callao,  the  port  of  Lima,  Peru. 

As  Boston  was  then  deeply  interested  in  the 
subject  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States,  I  wrote 
a  description  of  this  new  slavery  in  the  Chincha 
islands,  giving  the  names  of  the  boats  that  had 
recently  sailed  from  Macao  with  full  cargoes  of 
slaves.  I  had  heard  of  this  horrible  traffic  in  hu- 
man flesh  at  Singapore,  but  could  not  believe  it, 
until  I  actually  saw  it  at  Macao.  Whenever  the 
wretches  mutinied,  or  grew  restive,  they  were  put 
down  in  the  hold  and  the  hatches  closed.    The  hor- 

184 


IN  CHINESE  CITIES 


rors  of  such  a  position  were  as  great  as  those  of 
the  infamous  "  Middle  Passage,"  made  so  con- 
spicuous by  the  abolitionists  in  the  campaign 
against  African  slavery.  Chinamen  perished  by 
hundreds,  and  many  of  the  survivors  were 
maimed  or  invalided  for  life.  In  a  single  case, 
some  two  hundred  victims  were  smothered  and 
died  in  the  hold  of  one  of  these  slavers.  My  let- 
ters to  the  New  York  Herald  were  copied  far 
and  near.  It  was  discovered  that  some  of  the  Bos- 
ton people  themselves  were  interested  in  enslav- 
ing the  Chinese.  But  the  practise  could  not  stand 
the  light  of  exposure,  and  so  was  broken  up. 

We  hurried  on  from  Macao  to  Canton,  arriving 
there  during  the  Chinese  New  Year.  This  city 
astonished  me  in  a  number  of  ways.  It  was  dirty 
and  miserable  beyond  imagination,  with  narrow 
streets  and  indescribable  filth.  But  that  it  carried 
on  a  tremendous  volume  of  trade  was  apparent 
from  a  glance.  The  river  was  covered  with  junks 
and  larger  vessels  at  "Whampoa,  the  lower  port, 
floating  the  flags  of  every  nation.  Warehouses, 
the  "  godowns  "  of  the  foreign  traders,  revealed 
the  existence  of  an  enormous,  and  profitable 
commerce.  The  word  "  godown,"  which  many 
take  to  be  a  "  pidgin-English  "  word  composed  of 
"  go  "  and  "  down,"  and  signifying  putting  things 
down  in  a  warehouse,  is  a  Malay  word,  and  comes 
from  "  gadang,"  meaning  a  place  for  storing  arti- 
cles away.    The  warehouses  were  surrounded  by 

185 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

high  walls,  in  the  manner  of  private  villas  and 
town  residences  of  the  Chinese,  and  were  adorned 
by  beautiful  gardens. 

There  was  a  pretty  custom,  among  foreign  resi- 
dents, to  invite  all  visitors  to  dine  with  them. 
These  invitations  were  sent  informally  upon  little 
cards  called  "  chits."  As  I  was  already  known 
in  the  business  world  there,  I  received  a  great 
many  of  these  invitations.  I  was  walking  with  Mr. 
Green  one  day,  when  he  said  it  was  getting  time 
to  think  about  dinner.  "  Where  will  you  dine  ?  " 
he  asked.  I  replied  that  I  did  not  know  which  in- 
vitation to  accept.  I  thought  that  I  would  take 
some  of  his  conceit  out  of  him,  by  showing  him 
that  I  had  received  a  great  number  of  "  chits,"  and 
I  drew  a  package  of  them  from  my  pocket.  I  re- 
marked coolly  that  I  could  not  make  up  my  mind 
what  to  do,  as  I  had  an  cmharras  de  richesses.  I 
counted  the  "  chits,"  and  there  were  eleven.  Green, 
with  great  nonchalance,  drew  out  his  package  of 
"  chits  " ;  he  had  thirteen ! 

He  had  a  great  way  of  taking  care  of  himself 
in  such  circumstances.  He  suggested  that  there 
was  only  one  thing  to  do — to  find  out  who,  among 
our  intending  hosts,  would  have  the  best  dinner. 
He  then  took  me  around  to  the  rear  of  the  resi- 
dences, where  a  high  wall  separated  the  gardens 
from  the  native. city,  and  where  I  discovered  that 
the  Chinese  cooks  always  hung  up  the  game,  poul- 
try, and  other  things  they  were  preparing  for 

186 


IN  CHINESE   CITIES 


meals.  From  this  array  we  could  tell  wliat  every- 
body was  going  to  have  for  dinner.  After  a  stroll 
through  the  alley,  we  selected  the  house  that  had 
displayed  behind  it  some  lovely  pheasants  and 
salmon.  "  The  owner  of  that  house  shall  have  the 
honor  of  being  our  host,"  said  Green.  I  approved 
his  choice  both  then  and  after  the  dinner,  which 
was  an  excellent  one,  at  which  the  golden  pheas- 
ants were  the  piiice  de  resistance.  I  soon  discov- 
ered for  myself,  what  I  had  long  heard,  that  the 
Chinese  are  the  best  cooks  in  the  world. 

Another  thing  I  learned  about  the  Chinaman 
was  that  he  is  the  most  honest  tradesman  in  the 
world,  and  the  most  careful  about  debts.  The 
Chinese  New  Year  is  the  season  when  the  China- 
man wipes  off  the  slate  and  begins  life  over  again, 
with  a  clean  record.  He  pays  up  all  debts,  and 
starts  even  with  the  world.  I  learned  that  on  this 
anniversary  the  Chinaman  will  sell  everything  he 
possesses,  even  his  liberty,  his  person,  his  life  it- 
self, to  settle  his  debts,  so  that  he  may  face  the 
new  year  with  a  clean  conscience  and  a  pure  heart, 
as  well  as  with  no  bills  hanging  over  him. 

As  this  was  practically  the  first  Chinese  city 
I  had  seen,  I  was  very  curious  about  it.  It  was 
all  new  ground  to  me,  and  I  was  eager  to  explore 
it.  I  knew  that  this  was  not  permitted,  for  six 
Englishmen  had  been  killed  shortly  before  my  ar- 
rival, for  daring  to  venture  inside  the  walls  of  the 
Chinese  city,  which  was  then  as  much  forbidden 
14  187 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

ground  as  the  "  Pink  City  "  of  Pekin.  The  fate  of 
the  Englishmen  only  made  me  more  keen  to  get 
inside  the  walls.  I  thought  I  could  take  care  of 
myself  sufficiently  well.  I  was  warned  by  friends 
not  to  risk  the  thing,  but  I  took  all  the  respon- 
sibility, and  went  inside,  while  the  gates  were 
open.  I  had  not  gone  more  than  a  few  rods  when 
I  heard  behind  me  and  all  around  me  the  wildest 
cries.  Men  ran  toward  me  with  shouts  of  "  Fan- 
kwai" — foreign  devil;  and  I  saw  at  once  that  I 
had  stirred  up  a  hornet's  nest.  I  looked  about 
me,  and  discovered  that  the  gate  I  had  come 
through  was  still  open.  There  was  a  pretty  fair 
chance,  by  running  fast,  for  getting  through  it  be- 
fore the  Chinamen  could  head  me  off.  This  calcu- 
lation took  about  one-millionth  of  a  second,  and  I 
plunged  for  the  gate,  "  like  a  pawing  horse  let  go." 
If  the  stop-watch  could  have  been  held  on  me,  I  am 
sure  I  should  have  established  a  record  for  a 
short-distance  sprint. 

The  next  time  I  visited  Canton  was  in  '70. 
The  gates  were  open,  and  the  walls  were  of  no 
avail  to  keep  the  foreign  devils  out.  The  Amer- 
ican merchant  Nye,  who  was  familiarly  known  as 
the  Napoleon  of  China,  because  of  his  gigantic  en- 
terprises, took  me  over  the  city.  I  had  read  and 
heard  about  Chinamen  eating  rats,  but  this  was 
the  only  time  I  ever  saw  the  thing  done,  and  I 
could  hardly  believe  my  eyes.  A  Chinaman  came 
up  to  Mr.  Nye  and  me  in  the  street,  and  offered 

188 


IN   CHINESE   CITIES 


to  sell  us  a  rat,  a  big  fellow  still  alive.  I  asked 
if  it  was  to  be  eaten,  and  the  Chinaman  said  it 
was.  "  But  it  is  not  cooked,"  I  objected.  "  I  am 
not  going  to  begin  on  live  rats."  The  Chinaman 
said  he  would  prepare  it — the  rat  cooked  and 
served  to  cost  me  two  cents.  I  told  him  to  go 
ahead.  To  my  surprise  he  took  a  little  stove  from 
under  his  arm,  lighted  a  fire,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
had  the  rodent  roasted  to  a  crisp.  I  was  aston- 
ished— and  ashamed — to  see  how  nice  it  looked. 
It  did  appear  toothsome.  I  said  to  the  Chinaman, 
"  Now,  you  can  eat  it."  He  did,  and  with  great 
gusto  and  smacking  of  the  lips.  So  he  got  his  rat 
and  my  two  cents,  also. 

But  I  ascertained  that  there  is  about  as  much 
truth  in  the  common  stories  in  our  silly  juvenile 
literature  about  Chinamen  generally  eating  rats 
as  there  is  in  stories  of  other  marvelous  things  in 
far-off  lands.  I  also  found  that  there  is  no  deadly 
upas-tree  in  Java,  which  was  a  distinct  shock  to 
me.  I  had  been  reared,  so  to  speak,  in  the  fatal 
shade  of  that  upas.  I  had  watched  birds  drop 
dead  as  they  tried  to  fly  across  its  swath  of  malig- 
nant shadow;  I  had  seen  animals  stricken  by  its 
fatal  exudations  and  writhing  in  agony.  I  saw  all 
these  things  in  the  old  New  England  farmhouse, 
which  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Methodists; 
but  in  Java,  they  had  all  disappeared.  There 
was  no  upas-tree,  and  the  mortality  among  birds 
and  animals  was  no  greater  than  necessary  to  sat- 

189 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 

isfy  the  predatory  natures  of  other  animals,  birds, 
and  men.  And  now  to  find  in  China  that  the  New 
England  stories  about  general  rat-eating  were 
false,  was  another  shock. 

But  the  Chinese  are  not  as  cleanly  as  they 
might  be.  I  learned  this  interesting  fact  in  con- 
nection with  my  taste  for  Canton  ginger.  I  had 
always,  from  earliest  childhood,  been  outrageous- 
ly fond  of  this  delicate  comfit.  I  had  eaten  it  in 
great  quantities  whenever  I  got  the  chance;  and 
when  I  arrived  in  Canton,  the  home  of  this  con- 
serve, I  at  once  thought  of  it,  and  wanted  to  know 
more  about  its  manufacture.  I  learned,  after 
some  inquiry,  that  it  was  put  up  at  a  factory  on 
the  island  of  Ho-nan,  near  Canton.  Ho-nan  is  also 
the  name  of  a  famous  Buddhist  temple  on  the 
same  island.  The  factory,  as  well  as  most  of  the 
so-called  island,  is  built  on  piles.  I  had  not  al- 
together overlooked  this  fact  when  I  asked  the 
factory  people  where  they  got  the  water  for  the 
sirup  of  the  preserves.  They  looked  at  me  as  if 
I  were  demented.  "  Water !  why  we  are  right  over 
the  river ! "  Yes,  they  were  right  over  the  river, 
the  dirtiest  and  most  villainous  river  in  the  world. 
The  sewage  of  the  dirtiest  city  in  China — which  is 
saying  about  all  that  can  be  said  on  the  subject — 
is  emptied  into  this  river.  I  need  not  say  that  I 
did  not  eat  any  of  the  Canton  ginger  then,  and  I 
have  not  eaten  any  of  it  since. 

I  have  set  down  my  views  as  to  the  topsy-tur- 

190 


IN   CHINESE   CITIES 


viness  of  things  in  Australia.  I  found  China  top- 
sy-turvy in  a  different  way.  The  Chinese  begin 
their  books  and  letters  where  we  end  ours,  at  what 
we  should  call  the  back.  They  read  from  right  to 
left,  instead  of  from  left  to  right,  and,  strangest 
of  all,  the  men  wear  gowns,  and  the  women — don't ! 
When  I  was  introduced  to  How-kwa,  a  warm 
friend  of  the  Russells,  I  advanced  to  shake  hands 
with  him,  but  he  stepped  back  and  solemnly  shook 
hands  with  himself  for  me.  Then  he  waved  his 
hands  toward  the  door,  as  if  to  say,  so  it  seemed 
to  me,  "  get  out  of  here,"  and  I  was  amazed,  but 
Sturgis  informed  me  that  the  great  Chinaman 
was  merely  beckoning  to  me  to  come  nearer  to  him. 
I  went  up  to  him,  by  that  time  so  impressed  with 
the  Chinese  way  of  doing  things  baclrward  that  if 
he  had  kicked  at  me,  I  should  have  thought  he  was 
asking  me  to  embrace  him.  We  were  in  How-kwa's 
residence,  which  was  surrounded  by  the  most  ex- 
quisite gardens,  and  were  invited  to  partake  of  a 
cup  of  tea.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  drank 
tea  that  cost  $30  a  pound.  We  used  no  sugar  nor 
milk,  of  course,  as  these  things  are  considered  in 
China  to  spoil  good  tea.  The  next  best  tea  I  have 
drunk,  I  think,  was  the  tea  I  got  at  the  fair  of 
Nijnii  Novgorod,  Russia,  in  '57,  which  had  been 
brought  overland  thousands  of  miles  across  moun- 
tains and  deserts,  packed  in  little  bricks. 

Again,  I  found  that  the  Chinese  look  backward, 
and   not   forward,   and   ennoble   their   ancestors, 

191 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

instead  of  their  offspring,  and  pay  little  at- 
tention to  the  coming  generation.  They  say  that 
they  know  what  their  ancestors — the  dead — were, 
but  can  not  foretell  what  the  living  may  become. 
They  scull  their  boats  in  the  rivers  from  the  bow, 
instead  of  from  the  stern.  Their  boatmen  are 
usually  women.  While  we  fear  the  water,  and 
seek  to  make  our  dwelling  places  upon  the  rock  or 
upon  very  dry  land,  the  Chinaman  will  get  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  water.  In  the  Canton,  or  Pearl, 
river  there  were,  when  I  was  there,  some  100,000 
persons  living  on  the  river,  in  boats,  or  on  floats, 
or  rafts.  A  Westerner  would  suppose  children 
were  in  danger  of  falling  into  the  water.  They 
do  fall  in,  but  their  mothers  have  devised  a  method 
of  rescuing  them  without  mischance.  Cords  are 
fastened  to  their  bodies,  and  when  a  child  falls 
overboard,  the  cord,  which  is  made  fast  to  the  boat, 
prevents  it  from  sinking  too  far  before  the  mother 
or  father  catches  hold  and  pulls  it  back  into  the 
boat. 

They  call  all  servants,  male  and  female, 
"  boy,"  which  reminds  me  that  in  the  European- 
ized  parts  of  some  of  the  Japanese  cities  they  do 
the  same,  and  when  they  want  to  specify  definitely 
that  the  "  boy  "  is  a  girl,  they  say  "  onna  no  boy," 
which  means  "  girl-boy,"  or  girl  servant.  This  is, 
of  course,  pidgin-English,  the  business  English  of 
the  Chinese  littoral.  I  had  an  amusing  experience 
with   this   pidgin-English.     I  had   invited   some 

192 


IN   CHINESE  CITIES 


friends  to  dine  with  me,  a  merchant  and  his  two 
sons  and  three  daughters,  and  when  I  asked  the 
servant  who  had  come,  he  said  that  the  merchant 
had  arrived  and  "  two  bull  chilo,  and  three  cow 
chilo." 

Pidgin-English  amused  me  very  much,  as  it 
amuses  every  one  who  visits  China.  Augustine 
Heard,  the  merchant,  who  was  a  master  of  this 
lingo,  used  to  interest  me  by  reciting  phrases 
from  it,  and  once  gave  me  the  following  poem, 
which  is  a  translation  of  Longfellow's  Excelsior. 
The  translation  was  made  by  Mr.  Heard.  It  has 
been  published  throughout  the  world  as  an 
"  anonymous  "  production : 

THE  CHINESE   EXCELSIOR 

That  nightee  teem  he  come  chop-chop 
One  young  man  walkee,  no  can  stop; 
Maskee  snow,  maskee  ice; 
He  cally  flag  with  chop  so  nice — 
Top-side  Galahl 

He  muchee  solly;  one  piecee  eye 
Lookee  sharp — so  fashion — my; 
He  talkee  large,  he  talkee  stlong, 
Too  muchee  cuUo;  alle  same  gong. 
Top-side  Galah! 

Insidee  house  he  can  see  light, 
And  evly  loom  got  fire  all  light, 
He  lookee  plenty  ice  more  high, 
Insidee  mout'h  he  plenty  cly — 
Top-side  Galah! 


Ole  man  talkee,  "No  can  walk, 
"Bimeby  lain  come,  vclly  dark; 

193 


MY  LIFE   IN   MANY   STATES 

"Have  got  water,  velly  widel" 
Maskee,  my  must  go  top-side — 
Top-side  Galahl 

"Man-man,"  one  girlee  talkee  he, 
"  What  for  you  go  top-side  look— see?  " 
And  one  teem  more  he  plenty  cly, 
But  alle  teem  walk  plenty  high — 
Top-side  Galahl 

"  Take  care  t'hat  spilum  tlee,  young  man, 
"Take  care  t'hat  ice,  must  go  man-man." 
One  coolie  chin-chin  he  good  night. 
He  talkee,  "My  can  go  all  light" — 
Top-side  Galahl 

T'hat  young  man  die;  one  large  dog,  see, 
Too  muchee  bobbly  findee  he. 
He  hand  b'long  coldee,  all  same  like  ice, 
He  holdee  flag  wit'h  chop  so  nice — 
Top-side  Galahl 

When  I  was  ready  to  start  for  Japan,  I  had 
made  up  my  mind  to  visit  Shanghai  on  the  way, 
and  was  about  to  start,  when  Canton  merchants, 
native  and  foreign,  tried  to  dissuade  me.  They 
told  me  it  would  be  terribly  disappointing,  and 
that  I  would  regret  wasting  any  time  there.  They 
did  not  know  my  nature,  and  that  this  sort  of 
thing  merely  stimulated  my  curiosity  and  hard- 
ened my  determination. 

I  took  passage  in  the  P.  &  0.  boat,  the  Erin, 
Captain  Jameson,  and  supposed,  of  course,  that  I 
should  have  a  stateroom.  But  I  was  to  meet  with 
another  Chinese  surprise.  A  great  Chinese  man- 
darin, going  from  Hongkong  to  Shanghai,  had  en- 

.      194 


IN  CHINESE   CITIES 


gaged  the  whole  cabin.  I  was  very  desirous  to  see 
this  great  personage,  and  soon  had  the  opportu- 
nity. It  is  my  practise,  when  at  sea,  to  take  exer-  ' 
cise  by  walking  rapidly  up  and  down  the  deck, 
thus  covering  many  miles  a  day.  I  was  taking  my 
daily  exercise  the  day  when  the  mandarin  came  on 
board  ship,  and  every  time  I  passed  the  cabin  I  no- 
ticed that  he  followed  me  with  his  eyes.  And  so 
we  kept  it  up  for  some  time,  I  walking  as  uncon- 
cernedly as  I  could,  and  the  great  mandarin  watch- 
ing my  movements  as  curiously  as  if  I  were  some 
strange  animal. 

After  a  while  he  called  the  first  officer,  and 
asked  what  I  was  doing.  "  Walking  up  and  down 
the  deck,"  he  was  told.  "  But  why  does  he  do  it? 
Is  he  paid  for  it?"  The  officer  told  him  it  was 
for  exercise.  "  What  is  that?  "  asked  the  Chinese 
great  man.  This  was  explained  to  him,  but  he 
could  not  understand  why  any  one  wanted  to  walk 
up  and  down,  and  do  so  much  unnecessary  work. 
The  Chinese  are  not  averse  to  work;  indeed,  they 
are  one  of  the  most  industrious  people  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  but  they  do  not  do  unnecessary  work, 
having,  I  infer,  to  do  as  much  necessary  work  as  is 
good  for  them.  And  this  great  dignitary  pointed 
to  me  with  scorn  and  said :  "  Number  one  f oolo." 
I  hardly  need  explain  that  "  number  one,"  through- 
out the  far  East,  means  the  superlative  degree. 

This  mandarin  was  the  great  Li  Hung  Chang, 
who  had  been  summoned  by  his  emperor  to  save 

195 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

the  country  from  the  terrible  Tai-ping  rebellion. 
He  was  on  his  way  from  Canton  to  Shanghai.  He 
there  called  in  the  splendid  services  of  three  great 
foreigners — the  Frenchman,  Bougevine,  the  Amer- 
ican, Ward,  and  the  Englishman,  "  Chinese  "  Gor- 
don ;  but  it  was  largely  and  chiefly  due  to  the  stub- 
bornness and  genius  of  Li  that  the  empire  was 
saved  to  the  Manchus,  at  a  cost,  it  is  estimated,  of 
twenty  millions  of  lives. 

When  we  reached  Woosung  there  were  six 
armed  opium  ships  for  cargoes  of  opium  from 
Calcutta  and  Bombay,  which  the  English  were 
forcing  upon  the  Chinese,  much  as  we  should  force 
rum  on  the  Mexicans,  and  make  them  pay  for  it. 
The  English  and  Americans  were  reaping  fortunes 
in  the  most  unholy  traffic  the  world  has  seen — and 
it  will  never  be  forgotten  in  China,  or  anywhere 
else,  that  England  went  to  war  with  China  to  force 
China  to  permit  the  shipment  of  opium  into  that 
country  to  ruin  millions  of  lives  and  impoverish 
millions  of  families.  I  feel  heartily  ashamed  of 
myself  for  having  once  smuggled  a  little  of  this 
horrible  drug  into  China.  But  I  found  that  many 
Americans  and  Englishmen  were  devoting  them- 
selves to  the  trade  as  a  regular  business. 

In  Shanghai  I  was  the  guest  of  Russell  &  Co., 
who  were  then  represented  by  Cunningham  and  G. 
Griswold  Gray.  The  fighting  in  the  great  rebel- 
lion was  still  raging — it  was  not  put  down  until 
after  Gordon  recaptured  Nanking — and  when  I 

196 


m  CHINESE  CITIES 


was  in  Shanghai  the  Chinese  authorities  kept  the 
gory  heads  of  rebels  hanging  from  the  walls  as 
an  example  to  all  who  contemplated  opposing  the 
Manchu  rule.  These  hideous  trophies  of  the  war 
were  the  most  impressive  things  that  I  saw  in 
Shanghai. 

Dr.  Lockhart,  the  missionary,  acted  voluntarily 
as  my  dragoman  and  guide  in  Shanghai,  and 
showed  me  things  in  the  city  that  I  could  never 
have  discovered  for  myself.  In  one  of  the  squares 
I  noticed  a  monument  150  feet  high,  which,  I  was 
told  by  Lockhart,  had  been  built  by  the  poor  peo- 
ple of  China  in  commemoration  of  an  old  lady, 
who  had  been  the  Helen  Gould  of  her  day.  Each 
of  the  subscribers  had  contributed  cash  equal  to 
one  tenth  of  a  cent. 

Some  really  splendid  virtues  of  the  Chinese 
impressed  me  deeply.  I  liked  and  admired  them 
the  more  I  saw  them.  I  have  already  said  that 
they  are  the  most  honest  people  on  the  globe.  It 
seems  to  me  an  extraordinary  thing  that  this  race, 
the  world's  highest  type  of  honesty,  should  be  the 
only  race  to  which  we  are  inhospitable.  The  Chi- 
nese were  far  ahead  of  Europeans  in  many  ways  for 
centuries.  If  they  have  fallen  behind  now,  it  may 
be  only  because  Europeans  are  rushing  hastily 
through  their  brief  civilizations,  while  China,  hav- 
ing enjoyed  hers  for  ages,  is  content  to  watch  us 
rise,  flourish,  and  decay,  as  we  watch  the  passing 
generations  of  the  forest  and  the  field. 

197 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


They  invented  and  used  the  things  that  we  re- 
gard as  almost  the  highest  products  of  our  civili- 
zation. They  had  used  the  mariner's  compass  for 
centuries  before  we  had  it ;  they  invented  printing 
perhaps  a  thousand  years  before  Gutenberg ;  they 
invented  gunpowder,  which  they  had  used  in  war 
and  every-day  life;  they  had  the  best  paper  ever 
seen  long  before  the  rest  of  the  world  had  any, 
and  the  outside  nations  have  not  yet  been  able  to 
duplicate  theirs ;  they  invented  the  newspaper,  and 
have  the  oldest  journal  in  the  world,  the  Pekin 
Gazette;  they  discovered  the  Golden  Rule,  unless 
that  honor  belongs  to  the  Greek,  Thales ;  they  de- 
veloped philosophy— the  highest  system  of  the 
world,  in  Confucianism — before  the  Greeks,  and, 
of  course,  long  before  the  Germans ;  and  they  were 
the  first  people  of  the  world  to  appreciate  educa- 
tion. 

Moreover,  as  Mr.  Wu,  the  great  Chinese  min- 
ister at  Washington,  has  so  often  pointed  out,  they 
were  democratic  long  before  Thomas  Jefferson, 
and  long  before  the  Greeks  had  invented  the  word 
"democracy,"  or  had  discovered  the  idea  of  a 
democratic  state  or  city.  I  had  been  taught  that 
the  hard-headed  and  practical  Scotch  had  invented 
the  macadam  road,  naming  it  from  a  canny  Scot 
of  that  name ;  but  I  found  a  macadamized  road  in 
China  three  or  four  thousand  years  old,  and  long 
enough  to  wrap  around  the  British  Isles.  The 
Chinese  have  long  preceded  us,  and  they  may  long 

198 


IN  CHINESE  CITIES 


survive  us,  nullifying  all  the  "  imperialism  "  and 
"  expansionism  "  of  Europe  and  America,  which 
would  cut  her  into  fragments  as  the  spoil  of  the 
world. 

While  I  was  in  China,  on  this  first  visit,  and 
on  the  several  occasions  of  my  later  visits,  I  gave 
much  thought  to  the  vast  population  of  that  coun- 
try. I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  popu- 
lation is  less  than  half,  probably  less  than  one- 
third,  of  what  it  is  generally  estimated  to  be.  I 
notice  that  the  Chinese  viceroys  have  recently 
made  an  estimate  of  their  respective  provinces, 
at  the  command  of  the  emperor,  and  that  the  total 
reaches  the  enormous  figure  of  425,000,000.  I  do 
not  believe  that  there  are  200,000,000  people  in 
the  entire  empire,  and  I  should  prefer  estimating 
the  population  at  something  between  150,000,000 
and  175,000,000. 

I  found  that  China  is  not  a  densely  populated 
country,  as  is  generally  supposed.  The  seashore 
is  fairly  crowded,  and  the  impression  one  gets 
from  seeing  the  surface  of  the  water  covered  at 
Canton  with  rafts  and  floats  on  which  more  than 
100,000  persons  live,  is  that  the  inhabitants  must 
swarm  in  the  same  degree  over  the  face  of  the 
land.  This  is  not  the  case.  Even  the  coast  is 
merely  fringed  with  people.  Back  in  the  interior 
there  are  no  such  dense  masses  of  population.  All 
accounts  that  I  can  read  of  the  interior,  from 
Father  Hue  down  to  Mr.  Parsons  of  New  York, 

199 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

bear  me  out  in  this.  I  can  not  see  where  there  are 
more  than  175,000,000,  or  150,000,000,  people  in 
that  empire.  The  reports  of  the  slaughter  in  the 
Tai-ping  rebellion,  of  some  20,000,000  people, 
would  seem  to  indicate  a  population  of  at  least 
200,000,000  or  250,000,000;  but  these  figures  were 
greatly  exaggerated,  as  all  such  things  are  in 
China.  All  statistics  are  nothing  but  guesswork, 
and  the  bigger  they  are  the  better  people  like  them. 

I  engaged  passage  in  the  Greta,  which  was  to 
go  to  Shimoda  and  Hakodate,  Japan.  My  objec- 
tive point  was  Yokohama,  where  it  was  my  pur- 
pose to  establish  a  branch  of  the  house  of  Train 
&  Co.,  Melbourne.  My  Australian  house  was  not 
connected  with  Colonel  Train's  Boston  and  Liver- 
pool packet  firm.  At  this  time,  however,  the  Eng- 
lish and  Russians,  who  were  not  as  good  friends 
then  as  they  are  now,  were  fighting,  and  the  little 
war  completely  upset  all  of  my  plans.  I  could 
not  get  to  Yokohama  at  all,  and  did  not  visit  Japan 
until  several  years  later.  I  had,  therefore,  to  give 
up  my  passage  in  the  Greta,  and  turn  my  face  from 
Japan.  Just  at  this  point,  Augustine  Heard  in- 
vited G.  Griswold  Gray,  of  Russell  &  Co.,  and  me 
to  go  to  Fu-chow,  on  one  of  his  sailing  ships,  the 
John  Wade. 

This  trip  I  very  willingly  made,  as  I  wanted 
to  see  everything  of  China  that  was  possible ;  but 
it  was  more  adventurous  than  I  had  expected.  As 
we  were  sailing  down  the  China  coast,  a  typhoon 

200 


Getn-gL'   Francis  'i'lain  tliclatiiii;-  liis  autol)iiiij;ia|iliy  ia  his  room  in 

the  Mills  Hotel. 


IN  CHINESE  CITIES 


struck  us,  and  over  went  sails  and  masts.  Our 
pilot  from  Shanghai  was  immediately  in  difficul- 
ties, as  the  pilot  from  Fu-chow,  whom  we  had  just 
picked  up,  did  not  understand  the  pilot  we  had 
brought  from  Shanghai.  I  had  the  utmost  diffi- 
culty, owing  to  my  inadequate  mastery  of  pidgin- 
English,  in  establishing  communication  between 
these  essential  elements  of  our  little  crew.  We 
had,  finally,  to  get  into  a  boat  and  make  our  way 
up  the  River  Min  for  forty  miles  in  the  dark.  It 
was  a  very  trying  experience,  as  the  river  was  ab- 
solutely unknown  to  me;  the  darkness  was  "un- 
pierceable  by  power  of  any  star,"  and  the  river 
was  treacherous  in  itself  for  small  boats.  To 
make  matters  worse,  it  was  infested  by  junk 
pirates.  This  latter  danger  I  had  got  some- 
what accustomed  to,  as  almost  every  inch  of 
Chinese  water  was,  in  those  days,  the  field  of 
operations  for  these  pirates.  The  other  nations 
of  the  world  had  not  yet  adopted  effective  means 
for  getting  rid  of  them  as  the  United  States  got 
rid  of  the  Algerian  and  Tripolitan  plunderers. 

We  arrived  at  Fu-chow,  after  a  harassing 
night  on  the  river.  Almost  the  first  thing  to  greet 
my  curious  eyes,  as  they  were  sweeping  the  hori- 
zon for  wonders  in  that  land  of  wonders,  was  the 
old  suspension  bridge,  which  the  Chinese  assert 
was  built  in  the  fourteenth  century.  It  proved  to 
be  as  much  of  a  curiosity  as  the  Chinese  wall  in  the 
north.    At  Fu-chow  I  was  a  guest  in  the  house  of 

201 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


the  Russells.  Immediately  upon  landing,  Gray, 
Heard,  and  myself  took  sedan  chairs  for  a  tour 
through  the  city. 

On  this  occasion  I  had  my  first  opportunity  to 
appeal  to  the  American  flag  for  protection.    As 
we  were  passing  through  a  very  narrow,  but  im- 
portant street,  our  coolies  were  suddenly  set  upon 
and  overturned.    We  scrambled  out  of  the  chairs, 
and  asked  what  was  the  matter.    We  learned  that 
the  viceroy  was  also  passing  through  the  thorough- 
fare, and  that  everything  and  everybody  had  to 
give  way  for  his  retinue.    My  companions  at  once 
stepped  out  of  the  way,  but  my  blood  was  up.    I 
resented  being  upset  in  the  street,  like  so  much 
refuse,  in  order  to  have  the  filthy  thoroughfare 
cleared  for  the  passage  of  a  mere  Chinese  viceroy. 
I  had  a  small  American  flag  in  my  pocket,  care- 
fully wrapped  about  its  little  staff,  and  I  took  it 
out  with  a  great  deal  of  display  and  waved  the 
tiny    emblem    around    my    head.    I    dared    the 
Chinese  servants  of  the  viceroy  to  touch  me  or  to 
interfere  with  my  right  to  pass  through  the  streets 
of  Fu-chow.  This  had  its  effect.  I  noticed  at  once 
that  the  Chinese  in  the  street,  who  recognized  the 
colors  of  the  United  States,  fell  back  from  me, 
our  coolies  got  up  out  of  the  dirt,  and  once  more 
took  hold  of  the  poles  of  the  chairs.     The  viceroy 
passed  on,  pretending  not  to  have  noticed  the  inci- 
dent, and  in  a  few  minutes  the  way  was  clear 
again. 

202 


IN  CHINESE  CITIES 


Fu-chow  was  the  black-tea  port  of  China  at 
that  time,  and  it  had  been  opened  just  two  years 
before.  It  was  astonishing  at  what  a  rapid  pace 
business  of  a  certain  kind  swung  along  in  the 
coast  cities  of  the  Far  East.  In  two  years  several 
of  the  Canton  houses,  representatives  of  the 
great  shipping  and  other  business  concerns  of  the 
world,  had  opened  branch  offices  in  Fu-chow. 
Commercial  life  there  was  intensely  active  and 
very  prosperous. 

From  Fu-chow  I  went  on  down  the  Goast  to 
Hongkong,  this  being  my  second  visit  there.  I 
noticed  at  Swatow  several  ships  loaded  with  Chi- 
nese slaves  destined  for  the  Chincha  guano  islands 
of  Peru.  My  destination  was  Calcutta,  so  we  did 
not  have  much  time  to  explore  the  Chinese  coast, 
much  as  I  should  have  liked  to  do  so. 


15  203 


CHAPTER  Xy 

TO  INDIA  AND  THE  HOLY  LAND 

1856 

I  SAILED  from  Hongkong  on  Jardine's  opium 
steamer,  Fiery  Cross.  As  the  course  we  took  liad 
been  gone  over  by  me  in  the  voyage  to  Hongkong 
from  Singapore,  I  was  not  especially  interested  in 
it  until  we  had  passed  the  Straits  and  got  into 
Indian  waters.  The  Andaman  Islands,  where 
dwells  one  of  the  lowest  races  of  mankind,  in- 
terested me  greatly.  "We  saw  only  a  little  of  these 
curious  people,  the  Veddahs,  but  I  learned  of  a 
very  interesting  custom  followed  by  the  widows  of 
the  islands  to  commemorate  their  deceased  hus- 
bands. This  consists  in  wearing  the  skull  of  the 
dead  man  on  the  shoulder  as  a  sort  of  ornament 
and  memento.  It  is  considered  a  delicate  way  of 
perpetuating  the  memory  of  the  husband. 

I  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Robert 
Sturgis  to  George  Ashburner,  at  Calcutta,  and  the 
moment  I  arrived  Mr.  Ashburner  insisted  upon 
my  becoming  his  guest.  I  spent  three  days  with 
him,  and  have  never  partaken  of  such  luxurious 

204 


TO   INDIA  AND   THE   HOLY  LAND 

hospitality  elsewhere.  It  is  only  man  in  the  Ori- 
ent who  knows  how  to  live  fast  and  furious  and 
get  every  enjoyment  out  of  his  little  span  of  life. 
I  was  surrounded  by  a  retinue  of  servants,  who 
stood  ready  to  answer  every  beck  and  call.  Serv- 
ice in  India  being  highly  specialized,  there  was  a 
servant  for  everything.  I  had  a  httle  army  of 
fourteen  serving  men,  four  of  whom  carried  my 
chair,  or  palanquin,  with  a  relay,  a  man  to  serve 
me  specially  at  table,  a  punka  man,  and  a  man  for 
every  other  detail  of  living. 

There  was  something  to  do  and  to  see  every 
moment  of  the  time.  I  was  taken  to  all  the 
show-places  of  the  city.  The  first  sight  shown  to 
me  was  the  famous  Black  Hole,  where  John  Z. 
Holwell  and  one  hundred  and  forty-six  men  were 
incarcerated  in  a  dungeon  twelve  feet  square.  One 
can  not  escape  being  told  the  horrible  story,  if  he 
visits  Calcutta,  and  I  suppose  that  every  one  hears 
the  narrative  with  added  adornment,  after  the 
true  Hindu  style.  The  special  point  of  the  story 
that  was  thrust  at  me  was  the  orgy  and  heavy 
sleep  of  the  rajah,  while  his  servitors  were  try- 
ing to  arouse  him  to  answer  the  screams  of  the 
dying  men  in  the  Hole.  In  the  morning,  after 
the  rajah  had  had  his  beauty  sleep,  he  was  told 
of  the  little  difficulty  the  English  had  in  breath- 
ing in  the  foul  and  heavy  air  of  the  dungeon, 
and  he  ordered  them  released;  but  death,  linger- 
ing, and  as  heavy-handed  and  heavy-hearted  as 

205 


MY  LIFE   IN   MANY  STATES 

the  brutal  prince,  had  already  released  most  of 
them. 

One  is  glad  to  be  told  for  the  ten  thousandth 
time,  after  hearing  this  ghastly  tale,  of  the  clerk 
Clive  leaving  his  ledgers  and  pens  and  leading  an 
army  to  crush  the  wretches  at  Plassy.  But,  like 
most  things  of  the  kind,  the  horrors  of  the  Black 
Hole  have  been  exaggerated,  until  sympathy, 
palled,  refuses  longer  to  be  torn  and  bled  over  im- 
aginary as  well  as  real  terrors.  There  have  been 
many  worse  catastrophes,  and  of  a  nature  that 
should  appeal  more  strongly  to  the  heart.  Men, 
women,  and  children  have  gone  down  in  flood  and 
pestilence,  free  from  any  stain  of  wrong,  which  can 
not  be  said  of  the  victims  of  the  Black  Hole.  We 
can  not  forget  altogether  that  they  were  in  India 
not  of  right,  but  as  conquerors,  and  that  they  were 
originally,  at  least,  in  the  wrong.  But  the  suffer- 
ers in  the  Johnstown  flood,  the  thousands  who 
died  in  the  Lisbon,  Krakatoa,  and  Martinique  dis- 
asters, and  other  thousands  that  go  down  in  ships 
at  sea — these  innocent  victims  demand  sympathy 
much  more. 

It  seemed  that  most  of  my  sight-seeing  in  Cal- 
cutta was  to  be  limited  to  horrible  things.  In- 
deed, the  visitor  is  often  hurried  from  horror  to 
horror,  as  if  he  were  in  some  "  chamber  of  hor- 
rors "  in  a  museum.  I  was  taken  to  the  burning 
ghaut,  where  dead  bodies  are  cremated.  I  saw 
some  five  hundred  little  fires,  which  were  so  many 

206 


TO   INDIA  AND   THE   HOLY   LAND 


pyres  for  the  dead.  I  had  heard  much  of  the 
burning  of  live  women  in  order  that  they  should 
accompany  their  dead  masters,  and  out  of  sheer 
curiosity  asked  the  guard  if  there  were  men  only 
in  the  fires.  For  answer,  he  took  a  long  hook, 
thrust  it  into  one  of  the  fires,  pulled  it  back  and 
on  its  prongs  brought  the  charred  leg  of  a  man. 
Immediately  birds  of  prey  (adjutants)  pounced 
down  upon  the  smoking  flesh  and  bore  it  away. 
These  birds  are  the  scavengers  of  Calcutta,  and 
the  special  guardians  of  the  ghaut.  Cremation  is 
a  great  economy  in  India.  It  costs  only  half  a  cent 
to  bum  a  body. 

Another  horror  shall  complete  this  gruesome 
part  of  my  story.  Being  very  fond  of  shrimps, 
one  day  I  inquired,  in  a  moment  of  forgetful- 
ness — for  it  is  a  safe  rule  not  to  ask  the  source  of 
anything  in  the  East — where  and  how  they  got 
these  shrimps.  I  was  taken  to  the  fishing 
grounds  in  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  there  saw 
millions  of  these  prawns  flocking,  like  petty  scav- 
engers, about  the  dead  bodies  that  continually  float 
down  the  Ganges.  Human  flesh  was  their  favor- 
ite food.  This  was  enough  for  me.  I  stopped 
eating  shrimps  in  India,  as  I  had  stopped  eating 
Canton  ginger  preserves  in  China. 

On  the  second  day  of  my  stay  in  Calcutta  I  re- 
ceived cards  to  the  reception  given  by  Lord  Dal- 
housie  to  Lord  Canning,  the  new  Governor-Gen- 
eral.   Lord    Dalhousie,    the    retiring    Governor- 

207 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

General,  was  dying.  In  fact  he  had  been  dying 
for  months.  I  shall  not  go  into  any  description 
of  the  exceedingly  brilliant  reception.  It  made 
an  ineffaceable  impression  upon  me  because  of 
the  grouping  on  that  occasion  of  some  of  the  most 
splendid  of  the  British  administrators  and  of  some 
of  the  most  daring  of  their  enemies,  who  were 
even  then  plotting  revolution  and  bloodshed.  I 
was  introduced  to  both  the  passing  and  the  coming 
Governor-General  and  to  General  Havelock,  after- 
wards the  gallant  fighter  at  Lucknow.  I  had  the 
rare  privilege  of  seeing  these  three  men  talking 
amicably  with  the  great  Nana  Sahib,  the  leader  of 
the  Hindus  at  Cawnpore. 

The  voyage  from  Calcutta  to  Suez  was  al- 
most devoid  of  incident.  "We  put  into  Madras,  a 
barren,  flat,  and  dismal  place,  to  take  on  passen- 
gers, and  then  sailed  for  Point  de  Galle,  Ceylon. 
At  this  place  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  elephants 
employed  in  carrying  and  piling  heavy  timbers. 
They  go  about  their  task  with  an  intelligence  that 
is  nearly  human,  lifting  heavy  teak  timbers  and 
placing  them  in  regular  order  in  great  piles.  I 
had  not  before  supposed  that  any  animals  pos- 
sessed so  much  sense. 

Coming  down  to  Aden,  two  thousand  miles 
from  Galle,  sleeping  with  the  bulkhead  open  op- 
posite my  berth,  one  night  I  felt  something  slap 
me  in  the  face.  As  I  was  all  alone,  I  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  it.  There  was  no  light,  and  I  could 

208 


TO  INDIA  AND  THE  HOLY  LAND 

not  see.  As  soon  as  I  fell  asleep  another  slap  came. 
I  had  heard  about  the  insects  of  the  tropics,  but 
had  no  idea  they  were  of  such  size  as  to  cause 
these  slaps.  In  the  morning,  I  found  out  what 
had  been  the  matter.  Nine  flying-fish  lay  dead  in 
my  berth. 

At  Aden,  the  most  barren  and  gloomy  place  I 
have  ever  seen,  we  went  out  to  the  cantonments, 
which  must  have  been  built  thousands  of  years 
ago.  We  hurried  up  the  Red  Sea  to  Suez,  and 
then  crossed  over  by  land  from  Suez,  eighty-four 
miles,  to  Cairo,  with  six  hundred  camels  in  the 
caravan.  We  had  coaches  carrying  six  passen- 
gers. I  have  a  good  idea  of  what  the  Sahara 
Desert  is  from  having  seen  this  desert  between 
Suez  and  Cairo.  Just  before  we  reached  Cairo, 
there  was  a  cry  from  one  of  the  coaches  for  us  to 
look  up  at  the  sky.  There  were  masts,  minarets, 
and  the  whole  city,  in  fact,  painted  on  the  sky.  It 
was  my  first  sight  of  the  mirage  I  had  heard  so 
much  about.  We  were  then  half-way  from  Suez 
to  Cairo. 

I  put  up  at  Shepheard*s  Hotel,  and  immedi- 
ately arranged  to  go  out  to  the  pyramids,  ten 
miles  from  Cairo.  Fifty  donkey  boys  rivaled  one 
another  to  get  my  custom.  My  donkey  started  off, 
and  the  first  thing  I  knew  he  was  rolling  over  me 
in  the  sand.  He  had  stepped  in  a  gopher-hole,  and 
down  he  went.  Travelers  now  go  out  in  trolley- 
cars,  eat  ice-cream  and  drink  champagne  under  the 

209 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

shade  of  the  pyramids,  and  a  splendid  hotel  stands 
alongside  the  Sphinx. 

In  going  up  the  pyramids  it  took  three  Arabs, 
two  to  push  and  one  to  pull,  to  get  me  to  the  top. 
When  we  got  half-way  up,  an  Arab  wanted  more 
bakshish.  I  talked  to  him  pretty  loud  in  some- 
thing he  didn't  understand,  and  he  consented  to 
take  me  farther.  The  top  of  the  pyramid  of 
Ghizeh  has  been  taken  away,  and  the  pyramid  is 
now  about  fifteen  feet  square  at  the  summit.  I 
made  up  my  mind,  the  moment  I  saw  the  pyra- 
mids, that  these  gigantic  blocks  were  not  stone, 
but  had  been  produced  by  one  of  the  lost  arts  in 
preparing  concrete.  It  occurred  to  me,  as  the 
pyramids  were  hollow  to  the  base,  that  they  had 
been  storehouses  for  grain,  and  were  not  built  as 
tombs  for  the  Rameses  and  Ptolemies.  Humane 
kings  had  built  them,  I  thought,  in  order  to  employ 
labor  in  time  of  dearth. 

As  all  travelers  are  told,  it  was  said  that  a  man 
would  go  down  one  pyramid  and  come  up  on 
another  in  so  many  minutes.  I  had  seen  such  a 
number  of  "  fakes  "  in  my  travels  that,  as  I  could 
not  tell  one  Chinaman  from  another,  how  should  I 
be  able  to  tell  one  Arab  from  another  ?  When  this 
trick  was  done  for  me  I  thought  it  did  not  follow 
that  the  man  on  the  other  pyramid  was  the  man 
who  had  been  with  me. 

I  was  surprised  when  I  left  Cairo  to  find  a 
modern   railway,   that   had   been   built   by   Said 

210 


TO  INDIA  AND  THE  HOLY  LAND 

Pasha.  We  took  the  train  for  Alexandria.  At 
Alexandria  we  took  passage  for  the  Holy  Land. 
The  Rev.  J.  R.  MacFarlane,  chaplain  of  Madras, 
wanted  to  see  Jerusalem  and  landed  at  Joppa,  or 
Jaffa,  which  has  become  famous  for  Napoleon's 
massacre. 

In  going  through  the  Valley  of  Sharon,  we  saw 
orange  and  lemon  groves,  and  fruits  of  all 
kinds.  It  was  a  lovely  valley,  but  all  of  a  sudden 
we  struck  into  the  most  desolate  country  I  had 
ever  seen — a  mountain,  a  desert,  a  wilderness  of 
rocks,  ravines  and  canons.  There  were  rocks  to 
the  right,  rocks  to  the  left,  and  rocks  everywhere. 
My  dragoman  had  a  mule  and  I  a  donkey.  One  of 
these  mules  had  irreverently  been  named  Christ 
and  the  other  Jesus.  To  the  perfect  horror  of  the 
clergyman — until  he  understood  that  the  men  could 
say  nothing  else  in  English — the  names  of  the 
donkeys  were  spoken  with  every  crack  of  the  whip 
all  the  way  to  Jerusalem.  The  lashing  of  those 
donkeys  became  a  medley  of  seeming  profanity. 

A  few  weeks  before,  several  people  had  been 
killed  by  the  Bedouins  on  the  desert.  Every  one 
was  talking  about  the  dangers  of  the  journey. 
After  we  got  over  this  wild  district,  through  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  we  came  upon  a  plateau  and 
saw  Jerusalem  in  the  distance.  Beautiful  is  that 
city  for  situation.  Said  my  companions,  at  the 
same  instant,  "  There  are  the  Bedouins !  "  A  half 
dozen  horsemen  were  coming  from  the  direction  of 

211 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Jerusalem.  We  feared  danger,  but  Abram  the 
dragoman  showed  no  fear.  These  men  were 
really  not  dangerous,  being  only  "  barkers  "  for 
the  hotels  of  Jerusalem.  Neither  my  companion 
nor  myself  had  any  idea  that  they  were  employes 
of  that  kind. 

One  asked  if  we  would  go  to  "  Smith's  "  near 
Mount  Calvary,  to  "  Jones's  "  near  the  Via  della 
Eosa,  or  to  another  house  on  the  site  of  Solomon's 
Temple.  MacFarlane  said,  "  Don't  notice  these 
people.  Leave  it  to  the  dragoman."  He  decided 
that  we  should  go  to  Smith's.  From  that  time, 
until  we  left,  for  three  days,  I  saw  nothing 
but  humbug  and  tinsel,  lying  and  cheating,  ugly 
women,  sand-fleas  and  dogs,  from  Joppa  through 
Kamlah.  The  one  lovely  place  was  an  oasis  where 
we  stopped  for  luncheon.  Of  course  this  was  a 
long  time  before  Mark  Twain  went  there  and  wept 
over  the  tomb  of  Adam. 

In  going  through  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  up 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  of  course  I  was  impressed 
with  what  survived  of  my  Biblical  education.  New 
England  training  was  still  strong  in  me.  The 
women  of  Bethlehem,  carrying  baskets  on  their 
heads,  with  flowing  robes  of  calico,  were  very 
beautiful  and  healthy-looking;  but  when  I  got  to 
Bethlehem,  and  with  my  farm  and  cattle  experience 
looked  for  stalls  and  mangers,  I  was,  of  course, 
disgusted  at  being  taken  down  two  flights  and 
shown  an  old  wet  cave  as  the  place  where  the 

212 


TO  INDIA  AND  THE  HOLY  LAND 

Saviour  was  said  to  have  been  born.  I  have  kept 
the  morals  of  the  old  Methodists,  I  hope,  but  my 
superstitious  notions  were  disappearing  every 
minute  I  spent  in  Jerusalem. 

Being  in  the  Holy  Land,  all  the  stories  I  had 
heard  in  boyhood  came  back  to  me.  I  thought  of 
Moses's  life.  I  had  been  taught  to  obey  his  com- 
mandments, but  as  a  child  I  saw  that  he  had 
broken  in  his  own  life  those  which  say,  thou  shalt 
not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery — had  told 
Aaron,  his  brother-in-law,  to  make  a  golden  image, 
and  had  got  up  a  trust  by  means  of  which  he  might 
get  all  the  gold.  "  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder,"  says 
the  law — but  he  killed  an  Egyptian  and  hid  him  in 
the  sand.  "  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery  " — 
but  he  committed  that  sin. 

And  so  on  to  the  end.  These  commandments 
were  taught  by  the  man  who  had  broken  every  one 
of  them  himself.  Aaron,  who  wished  to  be  in- 
cluded in  the  gold-comer  into  which  Moses  had 
refused  him  admittance,  sought  to  make  money  in 
some  other  way,  and  said,  "  If  we  are  going  for 
forty  years  into  the  wilderness,  we  shall  want  salt 
provisions,"  and  so  bought  up  all  the  hogs  he  could 
find,  without  letting  Moses  into  the  corner.  Then 
Moses  spoiled  the  whole  game  by  the  law  that  no 
Jews  should  eat  pork!  In  the  Holy  Land  these 
things  all  came  into  my  mind.  You  can  imagine 
how  I  felt  sixteen  years  after,  when  arrested  and 
detained  for  six  months  in  the  Tombs  for  quoting 

213 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

three  columns  of  the  Bible  (about  which  I  shall 
speak  later). 

At  night  I  wanted  my  clergyman  companion 
to  gain  an  idea  of  night  scenes  in  the  East.  To 
make  sure  that  we  should  not  be  disturbed,  I  went 
to  the  chief  of  police  for  a  guide  to  show  us  Jeru- 
salem by  candle-light.  We  went  into  a  dark  alley, 
back  of  Mount  Calvary  and  the  Via  della  Rosa, 
when  the  man's  movements  became  suspicious.  I 
could  not  see  why  a  policeman  should  be  so  care- 
ful where  he  went.  My  object  had  been  to  see  the 
demi-monde  of  Syria. 

When  we  got  to  the  door,  the  policeman  tried  to 
shut  the  door,  but  I  put  my  foot  in  the  way.  I 
asked  MacFarlane  if  he  was  armed.  He  said  he 
had  a  Madras  dagger.  MacFarlane  was  already 
in  the  room  and  I  drew  him  out.  "  Those  are 
Bedouins,"  said  I ;  "I  could  see  their  pistols  and 
swords."  Intuition  told  me  they  were  murderers. 
Sixteen  persons  had  been  killed  in  Nablus  in 
'55-56.  The  chief  of  police  was  the  head  of  the 
gang.  I  immediately  saw  our  consul,  and  there 
was  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  the  foreign 
powers,  and  the  whole  traffic  was  exposed.  In 
our  case  they  found  the  men,  and  after  we  left 
they  were  executed. 


214 


CHAPTER   XVI 

IN  THE   CRIMEA 

1856 

The  voyage  from  Joppa  to  Constantinople  was 
a  succession  of  surprises,  from  Latokea  to  Lan- 
arca,  Cyprus,  Rhodes,  and  Smyrna.  At  Beyrout 
we  were  the  guests  of  a  pasha,  the  leading  man  of 
the  place.  Henry  Kennard,  banker,  of  Heywood, 
Kennard  &  Co.,  of  London,  who  had  joined  us  in 
Jerusalem,  went  with  us  through  Syria  and  was 
going  as  far  as  the  Crimea.  MacFarlane  was  still 
with  our  party.  We  had  a  day  off  in  Beyrout,  and 
went  up  to  Lebanon,  inland,  where  the  cedars  seem 
to  antedate  the  olive-trees  in  the  Garden  of  Geth- 
semane. 

When  we  got  to  Smyrna  we  entered  a  beauti- 
ful bay,  somewhat  like  that  of  Rio  Janeiro,  and  I 
went  out  on  the  fortified  hill  that  overlooks  the 
city.  I  saw  from  the  hill  that  troops  were  march- 
ing on  parade,  and  went  off  alone  to  see  them.  I 
was  told  to  let  my  donkey  go  his  own  way.  He 
brought  me  to  a  place  where  were  about  one  hun- 
dred stone  steps,  almost  perpendicular.    I  had  a 

215 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


little  hesitation  about  going  down  these  steps,  but 
he  seemed  to  know  what  he  was  about,  and  I  could 
do  nothing  with  him  but  hang  on  his  back.  I  ex- 
pected him  to  tumble,  and  that  would  have  been 
the  last  of  me.  He  didn't  miss  a  step,  however,  but 
took  me  safely  to  the  bottom.  I  thought  of  General 
Putnam's  stone-step  ride.  If  he  had  only  had  a 
Turkish  donkey  he  would  have  missed  being  a 
hero. 

My  donkey  seemed  to  know  more  than  I  about 
the  streets  of  Smyrna,  and  I  gave  him  the  rein. 
He  took  me  past  the  sentinels  to  the  parade 
ground,  as  he  appeared  to  know  the  password,  and 
across  the  parade,  which  was  against  regulations. 
"When  we  arrived  at  the  center  of  the  ground,  he 
began  very  peculiar  operations,  as  if  he  had  been 
with  Barnum.  Here  was  a  donkey  that  would 
have  made  a  fortune  for  a  circus.  The  soldiers 
were  coming  up  in  platoons,  when  the  donkey  be- 
gan to  stand  on  his  hind  feet,  and  then  on  his  fore 
feet.  The  roar  of  the  advancing  regiment  con- 
vinced me  that  I  was  in  a  tight  place.  I  got  off 
his  back  and  walked  alone  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
then  escaped  through  a  gate.  I  have  never  heard 
of  the  obstinate  animal  since. 

From  Smyrna  to  Constantinople  we  passed 
among  famous  Greek  islands — Ehodes,  and  Chios, 
where  twenty-two  thousand  Greeks  were  killed  by 
the  Turks — but  we  had  not  time  to  stop  at  any  of 
them.    At  Constantinople  I  preferred  to  take  pas- 

216 


IN   THE  CRIMEA 


sage  in  a  transient  steamer,  instead  of  waiting 
for  the  Government  boat.  I  stopped  here  only 
to  see  our  minister,  Carroll  Spence,  of  Balti- 
more, and  then  hurried  on  through  the  Mar- 
moro  Strait  and  the  Bosporus,  and  into  the  Black 
Sea,  and  there  found  an  immense  fleet  of  trans- 
ports, from  the  port  of  Sebastopol.  I  was  de- 
lighted to  see  alongside  of  one  another  three  of  our 
Boston  clippers,  built  by  Donald  Mackay  in  East 
Boston,  that  had  brought  French  troops  from 
France:  the  Great  Republic,  Captain  Limeburner, 
the  Monarch  of  the  Seas,  Captain  Gardner,  and  the 
Ocean  Queen  of  clippers.  Captain  Zerega.  Ships 
filled  the  little  bay,  bows  and  sterns  touching  the 
shore  on  one  side  and  the  other.  Not  one  could 
have  got  out  in  case  of  fire. 

We  immediately  got  horses  to  go  out  to  Bala- 
klava,  and  there  I  was  glad  to  meet  my  old  friend. 
Captain  Furber,  of  the  Black  Ball  Line  and  the 
Ocean  Clipper,  who  gave  me  a  state-room  and  all 
the  courtesies  of  his  ship.  He  had  come  for  the 
French.  Kennard  went  with  the  British.  Horses 
and  attendants  were  furnished  me  by  the  French 
generals  free  of  cost. 

My  object  in  going  to  the  Crimea  was  to  specu- 
late in  munitions  of  war,  which  I  supposed  would 
be  sold  for  a  mere  bagatelle.  But  the  armies  took 
their  material  away  with  them — English,  Russian, 
Turkish,  French,  Sardinian — so  there  was  no 
chance  for  business  there.    The  British  troops 

217 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 


were  in  rags  and  tatters.  Their  new  uniforms 
had  not  arrived,  and  their  shoes  were  worn  out. 
I  went  on  board  one  of  the  clippers  and  spoke 
about  the  shoes  not  having  arrived.  "  What  I " 
exclaimed  the  captain ;  "  I  am  loaded  with  shoes ! 
I  have  been  here  six  months."  "  Have  you  noti- 
fied the  commissary?"  "Yes."  What  could  I 
do  ?  All  this  was  afterward  described  by  "  Bull 
Run  "  Russell.  He  was  then  the  correspondent  of 
the  London  Times,  and  so  exposed  the  misman- 
agement of  the  war  that  ships  were  sent  with  pro- 
visions, uniforms,  and  everything,  after  the  war 
was  over. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  French  officers,  I 
visited  the  city  of  Sebastopol,  a  ten-mile  journey 
from  Balaklava,  and  saw  the  twenty-one-gun 
battery,  the  Redan,  and  the  Malakoff,  and,  of 
course,  the  ruin  of  the  famous  city.  I  could 
see  the  masts  of  the  ships  at  the  entrance  of  the 
bay,  the  fleet  that  had  been  sunk  by  the  Russians 
to  block  the  channel.  Here  they  had  crossed  in  the 
night  to  the  Star  Fort  on  the  opposite  side,  which 
was  strongly  fortified.  It  would  have  been  almost 
impossible  for  the  allied  armies  to  interfere  with 
the  Russians.  They  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
fight  it  out  to  the  end. 

The  French  zouave  commander  got  up  a  ban- 
quet for  me  with  twenty  of  the  officers  of  all  the 
armies — Turkish,  French,  English,  Sardinian,  and 
Russian.    I  did  something  to  stir  up  the  battle 

218 


IN   THE  CKIMEA 


spirit  again,  and  several  times  almost  got  them 
fighting  over  the  table,  especially  when  I  asked 
some  question  that  brought  a  reply  from  the 
zouave  general  of  the  Ninety-sixth  regiment  of 
Algiers.  He  rose  and  said  to  the  Englishmen 
who  had  disputed  his  word :  "  You  were  asleep 
at  the  Alma,  you  were  late  at  Inkerman,  late  at 
Balaklava,  ran  from  the  Redan  and  at  Chernaya." 
This  of  course  roused  the  English  officers,  and 
we  had  to  pour  oil  on  troubled  waters. 

There  were  two  princes  among  the  Russians, 
and  of  course  they  were  delighted  to  see  the 
allies  fighting  among  themselves.  They  helped  me 
in  stirring  up  the  quarrel.  I  made  them  admit 
that  Todleben's  earthworks  were  a  new  feature 
in  war — baskets  of  earth  used  for  forts  on  the  in- 
side of  Sebastopol,  put  up  impromptu,  and  hold- 
ing these  armies  so  long  at  bay.  In  the  Redan  it 
was  complete  slaughter,  two  thousand  persons  be- 
ing killed.  MacMahon  in  the  Malakoff  saw  at 
once  that  it  was  not  a  close  fort,  and  said,  "  J'y 
suis,  j'y  reste."  Speaking  of  MacMahon,  a  very 
singular  thing  has  been  suggested.  Put  together 
a  half  dozen  faces  of  French  notables — Mac- 
Mahon, de  Lesseps,  Alexandre  Dumas  (pere  et 
fils),  Victor  Hugo,  President  Faure,  and  add  my 
portrait,  and  you  could  hardly  tell  which  was 
which. 

Tennyson  has  given  to  the  charge  of  the  Light 
Brigade  at  Balaklava  the  power  of  his  name  and 
16  219 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

genius,  but  that  fight  has  been  a  terribly  exagger- 
ated affair,  so  far  as  massacre  was  concerned. 
Only  one  third  was  killed,  with  nearly  one  half 
the  horses.  In  our  civil  war,  where  a  million 
men  were  killed,  at  the  cost  of  a  billion  dollars, 
from  the  firing  into  Sumter  to  Appomattox,  on 
both  sides,  there  were  many  charges  where  the 
slaughter  was  proportionately  greater  than  that. 
Take  Pickett's  charge  at  Gettysburg,  where  a  whole 
division  was  mowed  down — or  Custer's  command 
(with  Sitting  Bull,  in  the  Black  Hills),  all  mas- 
sacred, with  the  exception  of  one  man. 


220 


CHAPTER   XVII 

HOME  ONCE  MORE  AND  THEN  A  RETURN  TO  EUROPE 

1856 

From  the  Crimea  I  returned  to  England  and 
thence  to  America.  Wilson,  of  the  White  Star 
Line,  wished  to  construct  the  largest  clipper  ever 
built  in  England.  It  was  to  be  called  the  George 
Francis  Train,  as  I  had  had  in  my  consignment 
or  in  my  charge  the  fastest  four  clippers  in  the 
world — Flying  Cloud,  eighty-six  days  from  New 
York  to  San  Francisco;  Sovereign  of  the  Seas, 
which  stood  in  my  name  at  the  custom-house 
(2,200  tons),  which  made  three  hundred  and 
seventy-four  miles  under  sail  in  one  day,  a  thing 
never  known  before  by  a  sailing  ship;  the  Eed 
Jacket,  built  at  Rockland,  Maine;  and  the  Light- 
ning, built  by  Donald  Mackay  at  East  Boston, 
which  sailed  from  Liverpool  to  Melbourne  in 
sixty-three  days;  but  I  declined  the  White  Star 
honors. 

The  day  after  my  arrival  in  New  York,  in  July, 
'56 — I  had  been  away  since  February,  '53 — the 
Herald  had  sixteen  columns,  about  three  pages, 

221 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

from  me  in  one  issue,  an  amount  of  space  I 
think  that  no  correspondent  before  or  since  has 
had — either  from  India,  China,  or  Japan.  I  had 
arrived  ahead  of  my  own  mail.  The  members  of 
the  present  staff  of  the  Herald  have  no  idea  that 
the  man  whom  they  have  looked  upon  as  a  lunatic 
was  sufficiently  sane  to  make  a  big  sensation  in 
their  paper  in  July,  '56.  The  present  James 
Gordon  Bennett  was  then  only  fifteen  years  old. 
Frederick  Hudson  had  entire  charge  of  the  paper 
under  the  elder  Bennett.  Mr.  Bennett,  wishing  to 
put  his  son  ahead,  pensioned  Mr.  Hudson,  who 
went  into  the  country  to  live,  and,  in  crossing  a 
railway  track,  was  killed.  Mr.  Bennett  gave  me  a 
very  kind  reception.  He  asked  if  I  desired  to  go 
to  Congress.  "  No,"  I  said.  "  Don't  you  want  to 
publish  books  1 "  "  Yes,  but  I  am  going  abroad 
now,  as  I  am  not  through  with  my  business  in  Aus- 
tralia." 

Here,  at  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  I  had  trav- 
eled over  the  world,  and  had  had  these  great  busi- 
ness experiences.  I  had  been  called,  as  a  sneer- 
ing term,  "Young  America."  I  kept  the  name, 
and  used  it  afterward  in  all  my  newspaper  work. 
But  Freeman  Hunt,  of  the  Merchants'  Magazine, 
who  edited  my  books,  changed  it  to  An  Ameri- 
can Merchant  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Australia, 
thinking  the  title  Young  America  not  dignified 
enough.  This  book  was  a  series  of  letters  from 
Java,  Singapore,  China,  Bengal,  Egypt,  the  Holy 

222 


HOME  ONCE  MORE 


Land,  the  Crimea,  England,  Melbourne,  Sydney, 
etc.  It  was  published  in  '57  in  New  York  and 
London. 

From  New  York  I  went  to  Boston,  and  es- 
caped my  first  opportunity  of  going  to  jail  by  giv- 
ing bail  bond  for  $80,000.  George  B.  Upton  repre- 
sented my  house  in  Boston  and  was  in  Europe.  He 
was  traveling  at  the  time,  and  his  people  instructed 
him  to  have  me  arrested  for  any  interest  the  Bar- 
ings might  have,  through  open  credits,  in  our  fiiTQ. 
Colonel  Enoch  Train  and  Donald  Mackay  signed 
the  bond.  The  claim  was  that  I  had  made  a 
lot  of  money,  and  had  not  given  to  others  what 
was  their  due.  I  had  never  used  the  Barings' 
credit  out  in  Australia,  and  returned  to  them 
$50,000.  So  far  as  Upton  was  concerned,  I  had 
paid  my  partner.  Captain  Caldwell,  $8,000  in  cash, 
when  he  went  home  in  the  Red  Jacket  only  a  few 
months  after  his  arrival  in  Melbourne.  This  was 
my  first  false  arrest  and  legal  prosecution.  From 
this  time  for  many  years  I  kept  getting  into  jail, 
for  no  crime  whatever. 

After  looking  over  the  accounts  in  the  books  for 
'57,  Upton  came  the  next  year  to  me  in  New  York, 
just  as  I  was  going  abroad,  and  said,  "  We  are  in  a 
tight  place  in  Boston."  Imagine  my  astonish- 
ment when  he  asked  if  I  was  willing  that  any  little 
account  coming  to  me  should  be  placed  to  my 
credit,  and  used  to  help  him  out.  Considering 
that  I  had  been  arrested  for  $80,000,  I  thought 

223 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

this  peculiar.  He  gave  me  a  credit  for  £500  on  the 
Barings,  however;  it  seems  that  $6,000  had  been 
sent  to  me  by  the  house  in  Melbourne  while  I  was 
away.  Inasmuch  as  I  have  never  since  inquired 
how  my  account  stood  with  Upton,  I  should  like 
to  have  his  son  look  at  the  books,  and  see  what  may 
be  due  me. 

In  '56  I  took  my  wife  and  baby  Sue  to  Paris.  I 
had  observed  in  Europe  that  the  Germans  were 
more  far-sighted  than  we  in  learning  many  lan- 
guages. The  bright  German  boy  in  a  country 
town  is  taught  French  and  English,  and  then 
sent  to  Bremen  or  Hamburg  to  get  the  practical 
education  of  merchants  in  great  shipping  houses. 
Afterward,  he  is  sent  to  England  to  find  out  other 
modes  of  doing  business.  Then  perhaps  he  estab- 
lishes a  house  in  New  York.  I  found  that  German 
merchants,  all  over  the  world,  were  far  ahead  of 
ours,  because  of  their  practical  training  and  mas- 
tery of  languages.  Seeing,  in  my  travels  around 
the  world,  that  the  German  was  everywhere,  I  de- 
termined to  learn  languages,  and  went  to  Paris  for 
that  purpose. 

We  took  rooms  at  the  Grand  Hotel  de  Louvre, 
in  the  Eue  de  Rivoli,  and  I  at  once  went  to  Galign- 
ani,  of  "  The  Messenger,"  to  find  teachers.  Un- 
der a  Catholic  priest,  I  studied  Italian  and  French 
at  the  same  time,  which  may  account  for  my  hav- 
ing a  little  of  the  Italian  accent  in  my  French. 
I  have  never  known  an  Italian  who  was  able  to 

224 


HOME  ONCE  MOKE 


master  the  French  accent.  I  also  learned  Portu- 
guese and  Spanish.  This  gave  me  the  four  Latin 
languages.  I  had,  in  '48,  studied  German  under 
Gasper  Biitts,  who  came  to  America  during  the 
Revolution  of  '48  with  Carl  Schurz.  German 
texts  and  pronunciation  I  had  to  practise  every 
day,  but  as  I  have  never  had  a  fancy  for  that  lan- 
guage, I  have  not  kept  it  up,  I  sent  my  sons  to 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  to  learn  German,  and  after- 
ward to  Seelig's  College  in  Vevey,  Switzerland, 
in  '71,  to  learn  Italian  and  French.  My  daughter 
Sue  was  sent  to  Stuttgart,  and  she  is  thoroughly; 
acquainted  with  both  German  and  French. 


225 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

MEN   I   MET  IN   PARIS 

1856-1857 

My  life  in  Paris  seems  now  like  a  romance  to 
my  memory.  I  was  twenty-seven,  and  thought  I 
had  seen  all  the  world,  but  discovered  how  little 
I  knew,  compared  with  others  whom  I  met.  I 
found,  as  in  all  these  foreign  cities,  that  notables 
in  society  and  in  public  life  often  did  not  know  one 
another.  At  Count  Arthur  De  La  More's,  of  the 
Orleanist  staff,  I  found  the  greatest  hostility 
toward  the  Emperor.  One  day  we  were  sitting  in 
the  entresol,  at  his  rooms  on  the  Rue  de  Rivoli, 
opposite  the  Tuileries,  and  he  asked  me  whether  I 
could  see  that  man  walking  on  the  veranda  of  the 
Tuileries.  I  said  I  could,  to  which  he  replied: 
"  Could  one  of  your  sharpshooters  pick  him  off 
from  here  ? "  I  looked  up  with  surprise,  and 
thought  I  saw  the  future  assassin  of  the  Em- 
peror, but  said  nothing.  I  told  him  some  of  our 
men  like  Daniel  Boone  and  David  Crockett  could 
have  picked  off  a  squirrel  as  far  as  they  could  see 
it.    It  was  a  little  while  after  this  that  the  Orsini 

226 


MEN  I  MET  IN  PARIS 


bomb  was  fired  at  the  Emperor.  This  was  be- 
cause Napoleon,  though  a  member  of  the  Carbo- 
nari, had  "  gone  back  on  "  the  order ;  but  his  life 
was  spared. 

Prince  Galitzen  of  Russia  gave  me  a  dinner 
at  the  Cafe  Philippe,  where  I  met  some  of  the 
Russian  nobility.  These  men  were  the  cleverest 
I  have  ever  seen.  All  were  good  linguists,  artists, 
statesmen,  soldiers,  men  of  the  world.  At  Prince 
Czartoryski's  I  met  leading  Poles,  who  were  still 
revolutionists,  plotting  against  Russia.  One  of 
these,  a  man  of  about  eighty,  said  to  me :  "  In  my 
teens  I  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  saw  Alexander 
and  told  him  the  condition  of  Poland.  I  asked 
him  what  he  was  going  to  do.  He  asked  me  what 
I  should  recommend.  '  There  are  two  ways  of 
governing  Poland,'  I  said ;  *  through  interest  or 
through  fear.'  Fear  was  the  policy  adopted.  When 
I  was  forty,  I  again  went  to  St.  Petersburg. 
Nicholas  was  Czar,  and  he  repeated  the  same  ques- 
tion. I  again  answered,  *  through  interest  or 
through  fear.'  When  I  was  sixty  I  met  another 
Emperor,  and  the  same  question  was  put  to  me, 
and  I  made  the  same  reply.  Poland  is  parti- 
tioned," he  added  j  "  and  we  are  now  only  a 
memory." 

At  Leon  Lillo's  I  met  many  Spaniards  of  the 
nobility  and  the  ruling  family.  I  still  think  that 
Lillo  was  the  son  of  Queen  Cristina,  by  her  hus- 
band the  Duke  of  Rianzares,  a  common  soldier,  of 

227 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

physical  beauty,  whom  she  had  taken  from  the 
ranks  and  made  a  Duke.  I  used  to  meet  him  at 
Lillo's.  Cristina,  who  was  then  probably  the 
richest  woman  in  the  world,  had  bought  Malmai- 
son,  the  palace  of  Josephine.  It  was  through  this 
connection  that  I  met  Salamanca,  the  Spanish 
Rothschild,  her  banker.  I  shall  speak  later  of 
how  I  got  the  funds  to  build  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railway,  connecting  the  Erie  Rail- 
way with  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Railway. 

At  the  Marquis  del  Grillo's  I  met  his  wife,  the 
great  Italian  tragedienne,  Ristori,  whom  I  had  seen 
on  the  stage  in  "  Elizabeth."  I  met  leading  men  of 
the  Second  Empire  at  the  house  of  the  Count  de 
Rouville,  including  Persigny,  the  Foreign  Min- 
ister, Count  de  Morny,  the  Minister  of  War, 
Walewski,  Prince  "  Plon-Plon,"  and  Mocquard,  pri- 
vate secretary  to  the  Emperor.  At  Triat's  Gym- 
nase  I  met  the  men  who  afterward  organized  the 
Commune.  At  the  house  of  Mrs.  Winfield  Scott, 
who  was  then  living  in  Paris,  I  met  many  Ameri- 
cans, and  at  Castle's  I  saw  "  Bohemia." 

Meeting  all  these  different  persons,  distin- 
guished in  the  great  world  of  Paris,  I  was  gaining 
the  knowledge  that  would  make  me  a  walking 
library  of  political  affairs  in  Europe.  This  made 
up  for  the  loss  of  a  college  career.  Practical  ex- 
perience and  observation  were  my  university. 

That  year,  '56-'57,  was  a  very  important  time 
in  my  life  in  many  ways.    I  received  an  invitation 

228 


MEN  I  MET  IN  PARIS 


to  a  ball  at  the  Tuileries,  engraved  in  the  usual 
style,  on  a  card  a  foot  square,  and  bearing  the 
enormous  seal  of  the  Second  Empire.  For  the 
first  time  in  my  life  I  appeared  in  borrowed 
plumes.  I  hired  what  I  call  a  "  flunkey  "  suit,  and 
paid  forty-five  francs  for  it.  In  this  I  was  pre- 
sented. It  was  not  a  civil  nor  a  military  suit,  but 
a  sort  of  mongrel  affair,  that  served  me  as  a 
court  costume.  Of  course,  my  wife  appeared  in 
proper  evening  dress.  There  were  four  thousand 
persons  present,  the  highest  in  the  society  of 
Paris,  military  and  civil — ambassadors  in  their  re- 
galia, regimental  officers  in  their  different  uni- 
forms, and  the  aristocracy  in  their  robes.  There 
were  also  Algerian  officers.  Although  the  Tuile- 
ries was  very  large,  the  four  thousand  guests 
found  themselves  in  much  crowded  rooms. 

During  this  reception  and  ball  I  suddenly  felt 
some  cold  substance  going  down  my  back.  Putting 
my  hand  to  my  neck,  I  found  there  a  cupful  of  ice- 
cream that  an  Algerian  officer  had  dropped,  with 
the  usual  "Pardon,  monsieur."  I  assured  him 
it  was  all  right,  but  the  ice-cream  gave  me  a  decid- 
edly boreal  feeling. 

The  ball  was  in  the  usual  court  style,  and  I 
shall  not  undertake  to  describe  it.  After  some 
time  had  passed,  all  at  once  there  was  silence,  in- 
stead of  the  terrible  hum.  It  was  the  presage  of 
something  important,  I  felt  sure.  The  wax  candles 
in  the  chandeliers  burned  brilliantly,  and  we  were 

229 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


all  on  the  qui  vive  to  know  what  was  coming.  L®ok- 
ing  toward  the  great  folding  doors  at  the  end  of 
the  hall,  a  lady  appeared.  It  was  the  age  of  crino- 
line, and  she  must  have  had  a  circumference  of 
eight  feet.  She  was  the  Emperor's  favorite,  the 
Countess  Castiglione.  The  sensation  she  made 
was  tremendous. 

I  should  mention  that  before  this  happened  I 
had  been  presented  to  the  Empress.  We  were  all 
ranged  in  diplomatic  order  for  presentation,  and 
when  it  came  my  turn  she  seemed  particularly 
courteous,  saying  in  English  to  me :  "  You  speak 
French  very  fluently."  To  this  I  replied: 
"  When  I  am  able  to  speak  French,  your  Majesty, 
as  well  as  you  speak  English,  I  shall  be  willing  to 
trust  myself  in  that  language.  In  the  meanwhile 
let  me  ask  you  to  talk  as  you  prefer."  All  those 
presented  seemed  surprised  to  see  me  talking  with 
the  Empress,  as  it  was,  I  believe,  unusual  for  a 
foreigner  and  a  newcomer  to  be  thus  honored.  She 
was  very  gracious,  and  made  me  feel  as  much 
at  home  as  if  I  had  been  in  my  own  family. 
The  introduction  of  the  crinoline  had  been  made  by 
the  Empress  before  the  birth  of  the  Prince  Impe- 
rial. Anti-Imperialists  had  been  busy  gossiping 
about  the  coming  event,  and  intimated  that  it  was 
impossible  the  Emperor  could  become  the  father 
of  a  child. 

After  the  Countess  Castiglione  appeared  in 
such  dare-devil  fashion,  in  the  presence  of  the 

230 


MEN  I  MET  IN  PARIS 


whole  court,  the  Empress  appeared  in  much  differ- 
ent mood.  The  next  day  she  went  to  England, 
and  became  the  guest  of  the  Queen  for  three 
weeks. 

The  Italian  war  was  then  going  on,  and  I  was 
desirous  of  mastering  the  Italian  language,  in 
order  to  carry  out  certain  contracts  I  had  made 
with  the  Emperor.  McHenry  was  my  partner, 
and  I  had  written  to  him  that  the  Emperor 
wanted  a  half  dozen  steamers  immediately.  The 
French  needed  the  boats  for  the  transport  of  pro- 
visions. McHenry  was  in  London,  and  in  my  let- 
ter I  told  him  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  war 
would  eventually  be  won  by  France  and  Italy. 
This  was  just  after  the  great  battles  of  Magenta 
and  Solferino.  He  sent  me  back  this  despatch: 
"  La  paix  est  signe."  You  can  imagine  my  sur- 
prise. It  shows  that  the  most  careful  of  men 
sometimes  make  mistakes. 

Mr.  Seward,  afterward  Secretary  of  State, 
was  in  Paris  in  '56-57,  and  I  showed  him  as  much 
of  Paris  as  I  dared.  There  were  certain  places 
to  which  I  did  not  feel  authorized  to  take  him,  but 
I  managed  to  make  him  see  a  great  deal  of  Paris 
that  would  have  been  sealed  to  him  had  he  under- 
taken to  go  about  this  microcosmic  city  without 
a  guide. 

Mr.  Seward  astonished  me  very  much  one  day 
by  a  remark  showing  his  detachment  from  the 
great  world  of  European  thought  and  power.    I 

231 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

said  to  him :  "  Mr.  Seward,  how  would  you  like  to 
see  M.  Lamartinet"  "Which  Lamartine  ? "  he 
coolly  asked,  as  if  there  could  be  more  than  one. 
"  Why,  Alphonse  de  Lamartine,"  said  I.  "  There 
is  only  one  Lamartine  in  France  or  in  the  world." 
He  asked  if  I  knew  him.  I  replied  that  Lamartine 
gave  receptions  twice  a  week,  and  that  I  had  at- 
tended them  during  the  winter.  As  there  was  a 
reception  that  day,  I  asked  Mr.  Seward  if  he  cared 
to  go.  He  very  gladly  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
we  went  together. 

Lamartine,  it  will  be  remembered,  married  an 
English  lady,  a  most  charming,  lovely  woman ;  but 
he  had  never  learned  to  speak  English.  He  was 
like  Hugo  in  this  respect,  and  thought  it  was  not 
worth  while  to  struggle  through  the  intricacies 
and  difficulties  of  the  spelling  and  pronunciation. 
But  Madame  Lamartine  spoke  French  very 
fluently  and  accurately. 

I  have  observed  as  an  invariable  rule,  from 
one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other,  that  if  one  per- 
son addresses  another  in  a  language  the  second 
person  does  not  understand,  the  talker  thinks  he 
can  make  himself  understood  by  simply  bawling 
out  his  sentences  like  a  town-crier.  Mr.  Seward 
was  no  exception  to  this  common  frailty  among 
mankind.  When  he  saw  that  Lamartine  did  not 
understand  his  English,  he  placed  his  hand  over 
his  mouth,  and  shouted  into  M.  Lamartine's  ear. 
The  great  Frenchman  smiled  at  each  discharge, 

232 


MEN  I  MET  IN  PARIS 


but  could  not  reply.  At  last  I  said,  "Mr.  Sew- 
ard, M.  Lamartine  is  not  deaf,  but  be  does  not  un- 
derstand English.  If  you  will  permit  either 
Madame  Lamartine  or  myself  to  interpret  for  you, 
there  will  be  no  difficulty."  Mr.  Seward  con- 
tinued to  shout  for  some  time,  but  finally  broke 
down.  Madame  Lamartine  and  I  then  translated 
bis  remarks  to  Lamartine.  After  this  we  got  along 
finely,  and  a  most  delightful  conversation  followed 
between  the  two  men. 

It  had  been  my  intention,  when  I  came  to  Paris, 
to  go  on  to  Australia;  but  as  I  passed  through  the 
various  countries  of  Europe  I  saw  that  the  shadow 
of  panic  and  failure  rested  upon  all.  I  had,  in- 
deed, completed  many  arrangements  for  going 
back  to  Melbourne,  and  I  had  got  a  letter  of 
credit  from  the  representative  in  London  of  the 
Bank  of  New  South  Wales  for  £20,000;  but  the 
project  fell  through,  because  of  the  panics  and 
disasters  of  the  year  '57. 

In  '58 — I  may  mention  at  this  place — I  had  a 
few  months'  leisure  on  my  hands,  and  decided  to 
give  my  wife  and  her  stepmother,  Mrs.  George  T. 
M.  Davis,  a  trip  about  Europe.  We  traveled 
through  France,  Italy,  Austria,  and  Germany.  At 
Leghorn  we  went  to  witness  a  spectacular  exhibi- 
tion of  the  storming  of  Sebastopol.  It  was  a  mag- 
nificent spectacle,  realistic  in  the  extreme.  No  one 
was  astonished,  when,  at  the  very  point  where  the 
city  was  taken  and  the  fort  blown  up,  a  terrific 

233 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

burst  of  light  appeared.  Instantly  thereafter  we 
discovered  that  the  explosion  had  been  too  real. 
The  theater  was  ablaze.  Of  course  there  was  a 
wild  rush  for  the  doors.  Panic  followed,  and 
while  we  were  crushed  and  trampled  in  the  press, 
we  got  off  finally  with  only  severe  bruises.  The 
official  report  next  morning  gave  the  casualties  as 
forty  killed  and  one  hundred  injured ;  but  the  Gov- 
ernment suppressed  the  facts.  The  dead  and  in- 
jured far  outnumbered  these  figures. 

We  had  an  experience  in  Naples  which  illus- 
trated the  every-day  use  of  words  by  the  English 
that  to  us  are  offensive.  We  were  aboard  one  of 
the  dirty  little  steamboats  that  were  found  in  that 
part  of  the  Mediterranean,  and,  as  the  weather 
was  somewhat  rough,  the  bilge  water  had  been 
shaken  about  in  the  night,  and  a  terrible  odor  per- 
vaded every  nook  of  the  vessel.  An  English 
nobleman  was  aboard,  and  in  the  morning,  wish- 
ing to  say  something  agreeable  to  my  wife's  stepr 
mother,  he  said :  "  Madam,  didn't  you  observe  a 
dreadful  stink  in  your  state-room  last  night? " 
The  blood  of  all  the  Pomeroys  was  fired  by  this 
supposed  indelicacy.  "  Sir !  "  Mrs.  Davis  retorted, 
stepping  back  with  great  hauteur.  I  immediately 
advanced  and  said,  "  My  dear  madam,  the  gentle- 
man meant  no  harm.  The  English  prefer  that 
*  nasty '  word  to  something  more  refined  and  less 
shocking.  He  meant  no  insult."  The  Englishman 
explained ;  but  the  lady  was  not  appeased. 

234 


MEN  I  MET  IN  PARIS 


At  Rome  I  was  astonished  to  find  a  delegation 
awaiting  me.  I  could  not  make  out  what  it  meant, 
when  I  was  hailed  as  a  "  liberator."  There  were 
many  "  liberators  "  in  the  Italy  of  those  days ;  and 
I  supposed  they  mistook  me  for  Mazzini,  or  Gari- 
baldi, or  Orsini,  or  some  other  leader  of  the  peo- 
ple. "Whom  do  you  think  I  am?"  I  asked. 
"  Citizen  George  Francis  Train,"  they  said.  This 
was  too  much  for  my  credulity.  What  was  worse 
still,  they  asked  me  to  go  with  them.  I  did  not 
know  just  where  they  expected  me  to  go,  or  what 
they  would  expect  me  to  do  when  I  got  there. 
Things  were  pretty  black  in  Italy  just  then,  and  I 
did  not  desire  to  be  mixed  up  in  "  revolutions,"  or 
liberty  movements,  or  conspiracies.  However, 
they  assured  me  that  it  would  be  all  right,  and  I 
consented  to  go.  I  went  through  a  dark  alley,  to 
their  meeting  place,  and  was  told  more  things 
about  the  revolution  than  I  cared  to  know  or  to 
remember.  It  was  not  a  healthful  kind  of  knowl- 
edge to  carry  about  Italy  with  one. 

But  the  curious  thing  about  the  affair  was  that 
here,  as  everywhere,  these  people  regarded  me  as 
a  leader  of  revolts — Carbonari,  La  Commune, 
Chartists,  Fenians,  Internationals — as  if  I  were 
ready  for  every  species  of  deviltry.  For  fifteen 
years  five  or  six  governments  kept  their  spies 
shadowing  me  in  Europe  and  America. 

From  Italy  we  passed  into  Austria.  At 
Vienna  we  had  the  opportunity,  through  the  cour- 
W  235 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


tesy  of  some  friends  near  the  court,  of  witnessing 
a  splendid  celebration  by  the  Order  of  Maria 
Teresa,  which  was  the  most  gorgeous  and  most 
beautiful  spectacle  I  think  I  have  ever  seen.  We 
soon  returned  to  London,  and  then  came  to 
America,  where  I  was  to  resume  work  on  projects 
and  enterprises  here. 


236 


CHAPTER   XIX 

BUILDING    THE    ATLANTIC    AND    GREAT    WESTERN 

RAILWAY 

1857-1858 

The  great  project  of  a  connecting  railway  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  the  Middle  Western  States 
had  been  in  my  mind  for  some  years.  Queen 
Maria  Cristina's  fortune,  which  was  then  the 
greatest  possessed  by  any  woman  in  the  world, 
seemed  to  me  to  offer  a  solution  of  the  problem. 
I  had  no  idea,  of  course,  of  attempting  to  use  her 
fortune  in  any  schemes  of  my  own  and  for  my 
own  interest,  but  I  saw  at  once  that  I  could  utilize 
her  idle  wealth  to  the  tremendous  advantage  of 
the  United  States  and,  at  the  same  time,  render  a 
service  to  her. 

The  Queen  had  had  a  large  quantity  of  funds 
in  the  old  United  States  Bank  that  President  Jack- 
son smashed,  and  James  McHenry,  who  was  con- 
nected with  me  in  many  enterprises,  learned  that 
she  had  taken  as  securities  some  coal  lands  in 
Pennsylvania.  I  saw  the  Duke  of  Rianzares,  the 
guardsman  Fernando  Munoz,  whom  Maria  Cris- 

237 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 


tina  had  fallen  in  love  with  and  made  a  grandee 
of  her  kingdom,  and  finally  married  in  '44.  He  had 
his  headquarters  at  Lillo's  in  the  Square  Clary, 
and  he  introduced  me  to  the  Queen's  secretary, 
Salerno.  I  suggested  to  the  Spaniards  the  ad- 
visability of  hunting  up  these  coal  lands  of  the 
Queen.  McHenry  had  already  made  arrange- 
ments for  me  to  go  to  America  with  her  assistant 
secretary,  Don  Rodrigo  de  Questa,  who  did  not 
know  a  word  of  English.  The  preliminaries  were 
arranged,  and  we  set  out  for  Liverpool  and 
America. 

One  of  the  first  of  many  difficulties  into  which 
poor  de  Questa  fell  because  of  his  ignorance  of 
English  occurred  the  first  day  out  from  Liverpool. 
The  Spaniard,  with  a  fatuous  assumption  common 
to  Europeans,  thought  that  whenever  he  failed  to 
find  the  exact  word  he  wanted  in  another  tongue 
than  his  own,  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  use 
French.  The  Spaniard  asked  the  steward  to  gef 
him  some  fish  for  breakfast.  He  knew  the  Span- 
ish word  would  not  answer,  and  could  not  think  of 
the  English  word,  though  he  had  tried  to  master 
it  for  some  time.  He  then  fell  back  upon  the 
French,  and  asked  for  "  poisson."  Of  course,  the 
steward  thought  he  wanted  poison,  and  reported 
the  matter  to  headquarters,  thinking  suicide  was 
contemplated. 

De  Questa  would  have  had  serious  trouble  but 
for  the  thoughtfulness  of  the  steward,  who  remem- 

238 


BUILDING  THE  ATLANTIC  RAILWAY 

bered  that  I  was  traveling  with  him  and  came  to 
me  for  advice.  "When  did  he  ask  for  poison? " 
I  inquired.  "At  breakfast-time,"  said  the  stew- 
ard. "  Oh,  then,  he  merely  wants  fish,"  and  I  ex- 
plained as  well  as  I  could  to  an  English  steward 
the  meaning  of  the  French  word. 

The  English  of  the  ignorant  classes  look  upon 
French  very  much  as  a  clergyman  does  upon  pro- 
fanity, or  as  a  missionary  regards  the  muttered 
charms  and  incantations  of  a  "  voodoo  "  priestess. 
De  Questa  finally  got  his  fish,  but  he  had  long  be- 
fore lost  his  appetite.  This  adventure  discour- 
aged him  so  much  that  he  refused  thenceforth  to 
try  to  convey  in  English,  Castilian,  or  French, 
any  of  his  desires  concerning  food,  but  resorted 
to  the  primitive  sign  language.  When  he  wanted 
eggs,  he  would  flap  his  arms  together  and  cackle 
like  a  hen  that  has  just  laid  an  egg.  The  steward 
who,  perhaps,  had  never  seen  two  square  inches  of 
countryside  in  his  life,  thought  he  was  imitating  a 
rooster  and  laughed  until  he  almost  had  a  fit.  De 
Questa  nearly  starved.  He  had,  at  last,  to  eat 
whatever  he  could  find,  without  trying  to  seek 
what  he  wanted.  I  explained  to  him  that  roosters 
did  not  lay  eggs ! 

Our  destination  was  Philadelphia.  It  was 
there  that  the  Spaniards  who  were  living  upon 
Queen  Maria  Cristina's  property  had  their  head- 
quarters. I  found  two  of  them,  Christopher  and 
John  Fallon,  living  in  fine  houses,  with  something 

239 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY   STATES 

of  a  court  about  them.  They  had  control  of  about 
forty  thousand  acres  of  coal  lands  belonging  to 
the  Queen.  This  large  tract  was  situated  at  a 
place  to  which  the  Fallons  had  given  their  name, 
Fallonville.  I  at  once  consulted  several  of  the 
best  lawyers  of  Philadelphia,  among  them  William 
B.  Reed,  later  Minister  to  China,  and  was  ad- 
vised to  go  immediately  to  the  lands  and  see  what 
had  been  done  with  them.  I  made  an  appoint- 
ment with  John  Fallon,  and  we  went  out  to  the 
mines.  I  can  not  now  recall  exactly  where  they 
were,  but  I  remember  that  we  passed  through  a 
wilderness,  after  leaving  the  train  that  took  us 
from  Philadelphia,  and  that  we  had  a  very  long 
drive  in  carriages.  A  railway  track  had  been 
built  through  the  forest  to  the  mines,  and  it  seemed 
to  me  about  fifteen  miles  long.  I  appeared  to  John 
Fallon  as  a  foreigner  who  was  interested  in  mines 
and  in  coal  lands  in  particular,  but  not,  of  course, 
as  representing  the  Queen. 

As  soon  as  I  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  re- 
ported what  I  had  learned,  my  lawyers  advised  me 
to  go  back  to  Paris  and  report  to  the  Queen.  Do 
Questa  and  I,  therefore,  returned  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. McHenry  met  me  in  London,  and  we  went 
on  to  Paris  together.  We  had  a  conference  with 
Lillo  and  with  Don  Jose  de  Salamanca,  the  Queen's 
banker,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  Queen  should 
take  active  possession  of  her  immense  property 
at  once.    I  saw  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of 

240 


BUILDING  THE  ATLANTIC  RAILWAY 


money  in  the  land,  and  that  there  was  a  fine  op- 
portunity for  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railway,  if  I  could  in  some  way  get  the  use  of  a 
portion  of  this  vast  coal  domain. 

I  saw  also  that  my  connection  with  the  af- 
fair had  already  given  me  a  lever  with  which 
I  could  work  to  some  purpose  upon  Don  Jose 
de  Salamanca,  and  that  this  was  the  best  card  to 
play. 

As  soon  as  possible  I  went  to  his  banking 
office  and  asked  for  a  conference.  I  had  learned 
enough,  in  my  dealings  with  bankers  and  finan- 
ciers, to  know  that  you  must  approach  them  on 
the  right  side,  from  the  side  of  money,  and  not 
from  that  of  a  mere  wish.  Accordingly  I  wrote 
on  my  card  that  I  wished  to  propose  a  loan  of 
$1,000,000.  I  really  came  as  a  borrower,  but  cir- 
cumstances permitted  me  to  play  the  role  of  the 
lender.  I  was  admitted  at  once,  but  if  I  had  asked 
outright  for  a  loan  I  should  have  been  shown  the 
door.  As  soon  as  I  was  in  his  presence  I  said, 
without  preface :  "  I  have  no  cash  in  my  pockets, 
nor  would  you  wish  it  if  I  had ;  but  I  want  to  show 
you  something." 

"I  understood  that  you  wanted  to  lend  me  a 
million,"  said  the  Spaniard.  "  I  do  not  see  the 
million." 

"  You  will,  when  I  explain,"  I  said.  "  I  want 
to  use  your  credit."  (I  knew  that  he  had  none 
in  London  and  that  he  could  do  nothing  there.) 

241 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


"  I  propose  to  deposit  with  you  $2,000,000  of  the 
bonds  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway 
for  $1,000,000  of  your  notes." 

I  knew  that  the  bait  of  a  credit  in  London 
would  affect  him,  as  the  Spanish  bankers  had  long 
tried  in  vain  to  establish  their  credit  in  the  finan- 
cial metropolis  of  the  world. 

"  Where  is  this  property?  "  he  asked. 

I  drew  a  diagram  of  the  property  for  him,  ex- 
plaining its  location  and  its  relation  to  other  prop- 
erties and  enterprises.  I  told  him  of  the  Erie 
Railway,  ending  at  Olean,  and  the  Ohio  and  Mis- 
sissippi Railway  from  Cincinnati  to  St.  Louis. 
"  There  is  no  connection  between  these  two  great 
highways,"  I  said,  "  and  a  highway  that  will  con- 
nect them  will  prove  a  fortune-maker  to  every  one 
associated  with  the  project."  I  explained  that 
there  were  only  four  hundred  miles  between  the 
two,  and  how  I  purposed  filling  in  this  gap.  Be- 
tween the  two  ends  of  the  completed  railways  lay 
three  wealthy  States.  This  road  has  since  been 
reorganized  under  the  name  of  the  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  or  as  it  is  colloquially 
called,  the  "  Nyp.  and  0."  Near  Olean  now  exists 
a  town  that  has  the  name  of  my  Spanish  friend, 
Salamanca. 

My  arguments  touched  Salamanca,  but  did  not 
capture  him.  They  paved  the  way,  however,  for 
his  complete  capitulation  a  little  later.  My  next 
step  was  to  go  to  London  and  confer  with  the  Ken- 

242 


BUILDING  THE  ATLANTIC  RAILWAY 

nards,  famous  bankers  of  that  city.  We  arranged 
that  a  nephew  of  the  Kennards,  a  son  of  Robert 
William  Kennard,  then  a  member  of  Parliament, 
and  an  engineer  of  note,  should  accompany  me 
to  America  and  go  over  the  entire  ground  of  the 
proposed  route. 

We  came  to  New  York  in  October,  '57,  and 
shortly  after  we  arrived  had  a  conference  at  the 
St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  in  Broadway,  with  the  men 
who  were  most  interested  in  the  proposed  road. 
Maps  were  exhibited,  and  the  plans  fully  ex- 
plained. We  then  left  for  Olean,  where  we  were 
met  by  the  contractor  in  charge  of  the  road,  whose 
name  was  Doolittle,  by  Morton  the  local  engineer, 
and  by  General  C.  L.  Ward,  the  president  of  the 
road.  The  whole  party  took  wagons  for  James- 
town, forty  miles  away.  At  this  point  we  were 
met  by  a  committee  appointed  to  take  care  of  us 
and  to  show  us  what  had  been  done,  and  what 
could  be  done.  This  was  the  program  through- 
out, as  we  passed  on  from  point  to  point.  Among 
the  men  who  met  us  at  Jamestown  was  Reuben  E. 
Fenton,  who  had  just  been  elected  Representative 
in  Congress  from  that  district,  and  was  afterward 
Governor  and  United  States  Senator.  The  line 
of  the  road  was  followed  as  far  as  Dayton,  Ohio, 
where  it  was  proposed  to  connect  with  the  Cleve- 
land and  Cincinnati  Railway. 

At  Mansfield  there  was  a  great  gathering  in 
honor  of  the  occasion.     The  committees  of  the 

243 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

tliree  States — New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio, 
were  present,  and  there  was  speech-making.  I 
made  a  speech,  which  is  printed  in  full  in 
"  Spread-Eagleism,"  published  in  '58.  Judge 
Bartley,  aftei-ward  famous  on  the  Federal  bench, 
was  chairman  of  the  meeting.  I  asked  if  there 
were  not  some  one  present  from  Ohio  who  could 
give  us  a  clear  statement  as  to  what  we  could  ex- 
pect. Judge  Bartley  called  on  "  Mr.  Sherman."  A' 
tall,  spare  man  arose.  It  was  John  Sherman.  He 
made  a  speech  that  was  clear,  direct,  and  forcible. 
Among  the  other  speakers  were  Robert  E. 
Schenck,  of  "  Emma  Mine  "  fame,  who  had  been 
elected  to  Congress  recently,  and  Senator  Benjamin 
F.  Wade. 

Just  before  the  close  of  the  meeting  I  intro- 
duced Thomas  Kennard,  the  civil  engineer,  and 
told  the  crowd  that  the  road  was  to  be  built,  and 
that  it  would  be  aided  by  the  money  of  Queen 
Maria  Cristina  of  Spain  and  the  great  Spanish 
banker,  Salamanca. 

I  made  a  report  in  London  of  the  work  accom- 
plished in  America,  and  at  once  began  to  purchase 
material  for  the  road.  I  sought  out  Mr.  Craw- 
shay  Bailey,  then  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  a 
great  Welsh  iron-master,  and  he  invited  me  to 
dine  with  him  and  his  wife.  He  had  just  married 
a  charming  young  lady.  At  dinner,  I  found  that 
Mrs.  Bailey  spoke  French  very  fluently  and  that 
Mr.  Bailey  did  not  understand  a  word  of  it.     So  I 

244 


BUILDING  THE  ATLANTIC  RAILWAY 


asked  permission  of  the  iron-worker  to  carry  on  a 
conversation  in  French  with  Mrs.  Bailey.  This 
delighted  him  very  much,  for  he  liked  to  see  that 
his  wife  was  mistress  of  a  language  of  which 
he  did  not  know  a  single  word.  This  subtle  flat- 
tery of  his  judgment  and  taste  so  pleased  him 
that  I  was  able  to  close  a  bargain  with  him  for 
25,000  tons  of  iron  at  $40  the  ton— $1,000,000— 
pledging  for  the  debt  bonds  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Great  Western  Railway,  at  two  to  one.  This 
was  the  first  great  purchase  made  after  the  panic 
of  '57. 

My  second  purchase  was  made  from  the  Ebw- 
vale  Company,  of  Wales.  Through  Manager  Rob- 
inson I  negotiated  for  30,000  tons  of  iron  at  $40 
the  ton— $1,200,000 — pledging  bonds  of  the  road 
at  two  to  one,  as  with  Bailey. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  Salamanca,  the  Span- 
ish Rothschild,  and  how  I  had  tried  to  obtain  his 
notes  for  $1,000,000.  I  finally  succeeded  in  get- 
ting this  loan,  pledging  $2,000,000  bonds  of  the 
road  as  security.  At  this  time,  no  Spanish  securi- 
ties had  been  negotiated  in  Lombard  Street  for 
years.  It  was  highly  necessary'  for  me  that  these 
notes  of  Salamanca  should  be  negotiated.  I  went 
to  Mathew  Marshall,  Jr.,  of  the  Bank  of  London. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  old  Mathew  jMarshall  who 
had  signed  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  England  for 
fifty  years.  I  asked  him  what  $50,000  of  the  notes 
of  Salamanca  would  be  accepted  at  by  the  bank. 

245 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

He  replied  that  they  would  not  be  accepted  at  all. 
''  No  Spanish  paper  can  be  used  in  London,"  he 
said. 

I  then  had  recourse  to  a  scheme  that  I  had  pre- 
viously worked  out  with  some  degree  of  elabora- 
tion. I  asked  Marshall  if  he  would  not  oblige  me 
by  telling  me,  as  a  friend,  what  sixty-day  bills  of  the 
kind  I  held  would  be  worth  if  they  could  be  used. 
He  said  they  should  be  handled  at  six  per  centum. 
I  telegraphed  immediately  to  McHenry,  in  Liver- 
pool, as  follows :  "  Marshall  will  not  touch  this 
paper  under  six  per  cent.  Will  Moseley  "  (the  big 
financier  there)  "do  it  for  five?"  McHenry  an- 
swered that  Moseley  would  not  handle  it  for  less 
than  Marshall's  rate,  but  would  take  $50,000  at  six 
per  centum. 

Upon  the  strength  of  this,  four  hundred  miles 
of  railway  were  built,  through  three  great  States, 
opening  up  a  vast  territory,  and  bringing  in  for- 
tunes to  a  large  number  of  men.  My  arrange- 
ment with  McHenry  was  that  I  was  to  receive 
£100,000  as  commission.  No  papers  were  signed, 
but  I  asked  McHenry  to  give  me  a  paper  settling 
$100,000  on  my  wife,  Willie  Davis  Train,  which 
was  done.  After  the  road  was  built.  Sir  Morton 
Peto  came  over  from  England  with  some  London 
bankers,  on  McHenry's  invitation.  McHenry  be- 
lieved in  playing  the  part  of  a  prince  when  it  came 
to  giving  an  entertainment,  and  he  invited  the 
visitors  to  a  banquet  at  Delmonico's,  then  at  Four- 

246 


BUILDING  THE  ATLANTIC  RAILWAY 

teenth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue.  It  cost  liim 
$15,000. 

As  I  had  not  yet  secured  my  commission,  I 
thought  this  was  a  good  time  to  collect  it,  and  in- 
structed my  lawj^er,  Clark  Bell,  now  of  No.  39 
Broadway,  to  present  and  press  my  claim.  Mc- 
Henry  was  so  afraid  he  would  be  arrested  while 
these  moneyed  men  were  with  him  that  he  settled 
at  once,  giving  me  his  notes  at  four  months  for  the 
balance  due.  Gold  was  very  high  at  this  time,  be- 
ing $1.90,  and  as  the  notes  were  on  London,  I 
found  they  could  be  negotiated  through  McHenry's 
agents,  McAudrey  &  Wann.  It  happened  that 
these  agents  had  lost  some  $7,000  on  information 
that  I  had  given  to  them  about  the  result  of  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg;  so  I  agreed  to  reimburse 
them  for  the  loss,  if  they  would  cash  the  notes  at 
once,  which  they  did. 

This  was  in  ^66,  and  a  singular  thing  happened. 
"Wlien  the  notes  fell  due  in  London  on  the  6th 
May,  that  comparatively  small  amount  of  gold  pre- 
cipitated something  of  a  panic  in  the  unsteady 
market  of  the  day.  Everything  went  with  a  crash. 
Moseley,  the  banker  of  Liverpool,  failed  for  a 
large  sum ;  Lemuel  Goddard,  of  London,  followed 
with  a  loss  of  as  much  more ;  Lunnon  &  Company 
failed  for  a  greater  amount;  McHenry  for  some 
millions ;  Sir  Morton  Peto  for  other  millions ;  and 
Overend,  Gurney  &  Company  for  another  large 
amount.     This   showed  to  me  the  real  shallow- 

247 


MY  LIFE   IN   MANY   STATES 


ness  and  insubstantiality  of  the  great  world  of 
finance.  It  is  built  upon  straw  and  paper.  The 
secret  of  its  great  masters  and  "  Napoleons  "  is 
nothing  but  what  is  known  among  other  gamblers 
as  "  bluff." 


248 


CHAPTER   XX 

A  VISIT  TO   RUSSIA 

1857 

The  year  '57  was  a  memorable  period  in  my 
life  in  many  ways.  The  great  panic  of  the  time 
swept  away  my  ambitious  projects  as  if  they  had 
been  so  many  dreams  and  visions.  My  contracts 
in  Italy  were  destroyed  by  the  peace  of  Villa 
Franca,  and  my  Australian  plans  were  defeated 
by  the  panic.  I  was  therefore  ready  to  take  up  any- 
thing that  looked  promising;  but,  as  I  had  noth- 
ing immediately  on  hand,  I  took  advantage  of  the 
enforced  leisure  to  see  more  of  England  and  the 
continent  of  Europe. 

I  was  in  Liverpool  at  the  time  the  Niagara 
arrived  there  for  the  purpose  of  laying  the  At- 
lantic cable,  and  suggested  giving  a  banquet  to 
Captain  Hudson  and  Commander  Pennock,  who 
was  my  cousin,  and  to  the  other  officers,  at  Lynn's 
Waterloo  Hotel.  This  old  landmark,  the  resort  of 
American  ship-captains  for  many  years,  was  torn 
down  long  ago.  At  this  time  a  letter  came  to  Cap- 
tain Hudson  from  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  of 

249 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Russia,  who  had  arrived  at  Dover  in  his  yacht,  the 
Livadia,  thanking  him  for  granting  permission  for 
three  Russian  officers  to  witness  the  laying  of  the 
cable. 

In  this  little  incident  I  saw  an  opportunity  for 
visiting  Russia  in  a  semi-official  capacity,  enabling 
me  to  see  that  country  to  much  better  advantage. 
I  said  to  Captain  Hudson  that  I  should  like  to 
carry  his  answer  to  the  Grand  Duke.  He  replied 
that  no  answer  was  required,  and  that,  besides, 
the  Grand  Duke  had  returned  to  St.  Petersburg, 
I  assured  him  that  strict  courtesy  demanded  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  letter,  and  that  it  would 
make  no  difference  to  me  about  the  Grand  Duke 
being  in  St.  Petersburg,  as  I  expected  to  visit  that 
city.  So  I  persuaded  him  to  let  me  take  an 
answer  to  the  Russian  Prince.  I  suggested  the 
phrasing  of  the  letter.  The  Grand  Duke  was  in- 
formed that  I  was  visiting  Russia  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  the  Nijnii  Novgorod  fair,  and  that  the 
United  States  was  always  glad  to  do  anything  that 
helped  to  repay  Russia  for  her  long  friendship. 

I  immediately  started  for  London,  where  I 
called  on  the  American  Minister,  George  M.  Dal- 
las. Mr.  Dallas  was  very  courteous,  but  he  evi- 
dently wanted  to  have  the  opportunity  of  handing 
the  letter  to  the  Grand  Duke  himself.  He  offered 
to  see  that  the  communication  was  expeditiously 
and  properly  transmitted.  "  But,"  I  said,  "  I  de- 
sire to  take  it  in  person."    I  next  called  on  John 

250 


A  VISIT  TO  RUSSIA 


Delane,  who  was  long  the  editor  of  the  London 
Times,  and  he  asked  me  to  write  him  some  letters 
from  Russia.    Then  I  left  London  for  The  Hague. 

I  met  at  The  Hague  Admiral  Ariens,  to  whom  I 
had  been  introduced  by  Captain  Fabius  of  the 
Dutch  man-of-war,  some  years  before,  at  Singa- 
pore. From  Holland  I  went  through  Germany, 
visiting  Stettin,  where  I  saw  the  beginnings  of 
those  great  ship-yards  that  are  now  sending  out 
the  greatest  and  fastest  vessels  on  the  seas.  I 
took  a  steamer  from  Stettin  for  St.  Petersburg. 

At  the  Russian  capital  I  called  at  once  on  our 
minister.  Governor  Seymour,  of  Connecticut.  Mr. 
Seymour  made  the  same  suggestion  that  Mr. 
Dallas  had  made.  He  wished  to  transmit  the  let- 
ter to  the  Grand  Duke.  But  I  was  not  to  be  de- 
prived of  the  final  triumph  of  my  schemes.  I 
told  the  Minister  that  I  had  come  all  the  way  from 
Liverpool,  and  that  it  was  my  purpose  to  hand  the 
letter  to  the  Grand  Duke,  if  I  had  to  travel  all  over 
the  Russian  empire  to  do  it.  I  was  informed  that 
it  was  not  the  season  for  seeing  this  high  official, 
as  he  had  left  the  city  and  was  at  his  country  resi- 
dence, at  Strelna. 

My  answer  to  this  was,  in  true  Yankee  fash- 
ion, "  ^Miere  is  Strelna!  "  I  was  told  that  it  was 
just  below  Peterhof.  Then  I  was  advised  not  to 
try  to  see  the  Grand  Duke  on  that  day,  as  it  was 
Saturday.  I  resolved  to  go  at  once  to  Strelna, 
without  regard  to  official  days,  as  I  had  long  since 
13  251 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

discovered  that  the  only  way  to  do  a  thing  of  this 
sort  was  to  do  it  straightway.  I  got  a  fast  team, 
and  was  taken  out  to  the  Grand  Duke's  palace. 

I  found  the  residence  situated  in  the  midst  of 
an  immense  forest  park,  and  sentinels  guarded 
every  avenue  of  approach.  These  stopped  ine  at 
every  turn,  but  at  every  challenge  I  showed  the 
letter  to  the  Grand  Duke  and  told  my  errand.  I 
was  passed  on  and  on,  until  I  was  inside  the  palace 
itself.  Here  I  was  met  by  a  gentleman  in  the  long 
frock  coat  the  Eussians  affect,  with  his  breast  cov- 
ered with  military  orders.  He  offered,  as  soon 
as  I  told  him  my  errand,  to  take  the  letter  to  the 
Grand  Duke;  but  I  merely  said  that  it  was  my 
purpose  to  hand  it  to  him  in  person.  I  now  began 
to  fear  that  it  would  require  some  little  time  to  get 
into  the  presence  of  this  high  dignitary.  I  ex- 
pected to  be  put  off  for  several  days,  and  then  to 
end  up  against  a  secretary  or  an  aide-de-camp, 
who  would  finally  have  me  meet  some  one  very 
near  the  Grand  Duke,  but  not  the  Grand  Duke 
himself. 

I  was  at  last  shown  by  this  military-looking 
gentleman  into  a  reception  room  of  the  most  spa- 
cious proportions.  I  sat  down  and  prepared  to 
wait  for  a  secretary  or  aide-de-camp,  when,  sud- 
denly, the  door  flew  open,  and,  with  a  rapid  step, 
a  handsome,  delicate-looking  gentleman  advanced 
toward  me.  I  rose,  and  again  went  through  the 
tiresome  explanation  that  I  had  a  letter  for  the 

252 


A  VISIT  TO  RUSSIA 


Grand  Duke,  which  I  should  like  to  hand  to  him  in 
person,  and  so  on,  and  so  on.  I  expected  to  re- 
ceive the  reply  that  this  gentleman  would  be 
greatly  pleased  to  relieve  me  of  the  trouble,  and 
was  prepared  to  answer  rather  severely  that  I 
wished  to  hand  the  letter  to  his  Grace  myself. 
He  said,  with  a  gracious  smile,  which  played  like 
a  dim  light  over  his  pale  features,  that  he  would 
see  that  the  Grand  Duke  received  the  letter. 
"  But,"  I  said,  "  I  must  hand  it  to  him  myself." 
"  Is  it  necessary? "  he  asked,  with  his  faint  smile. 
"  It  is,"  I  replied  as  firmly  as  I  could. 

He  stepped  back  a  little,  and  said,  with  a  bow, 
"I  am  the  Grand  Duke."  I  almost  sank  into  the 
chair  with  surprise.  As  soon  as  I  recovered  my 
composure,  I  handed  him  the  letter,  which  I  now 
felt  to  be  a  very  small  affair  for  so  much  cere- 
mony and  trouble. 

While  I  was  waiting  for  the  Grand  Duke  to 
read  the  letter,  two  great  dogs  came  into  the  room, 
from  different  directions,  and  immediately  began 
fighting.  The  Grand  Duke  said  something  in 
Russian,  which  showed  that  he  at  least  knew  how 
to  speak  commandingly.  The  great  beasts,  with 
drooping  tails,  slunk  from  his  presence  like 
whipped  children. 

The  Grand  Duke  Constantine  was  a  younger 
brother  of  the  Czar,  and  was  a  man  of  many  ac- 
complishments. He  spoke  with  ease  and  grace 
seven    languages,    and    his    English    was    quite 

253 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY   STATES 

as  grammatical  and  exact  as  my  own.  The  Grand 
Duke,  as  soon  as  he  had  read  the  letter,  called  in 
his  aide-de-camp.  Colonel  Greig,  and  said  that  the 
colonel  would  see  to  it  that  all  my  needs  were  at- 
tended to  immediately,  and  expressed  the  wish 
that  he  might  see  me  on  my  return  from  Nijnii. 
"  I  should  like  to  know  what  you,  as  an  American, 
think  of  Russia." 

Colonel  Greig  took  me  to  the  residence  of  his 
mother,  the  widow  of  Admiral  Greig  of  the  Rus- 
sian navy,  who  lived  just  opposite  Kronstadt. 
"We  were  driven  over  in  a  troika,  or  droshky,  with 
one  horse  trotting  in  the  middle  and  one  on 
each  side,  in  full  gallop.  It  was  the  most  de- 
lightfully exhilarating  drive  I  had  ever  taken,  and 
I  still  think  that  the  troika  is  the  most  attractive 
of  all  vehicles.  At  the  Greigs'  I  was  treated  with 
the  utmost  consideration,  and  was  a  guest  at  a 
banquet  the  first  night  I  was  there.  When  I  came 
to  prepare  for  this  function,  I  remembered  that  I 
had  no  change  of  clothes  with  me,  as  I  had  come 
out  from  St.  Petersburg  in  a  great  hurry. 

In  this  dilemma,  I  turned  to  Colonel  Greig  and 
explained  that  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to  attend 
the  banquet  as  I  had  no  dress  clothes  with  me.  He 
looked  me  over,  and  replied :  "  I  think  we  are 
about  the  same  size.  Suppose  you  try  one  of  my 
suits  ? "  I  accepted  the  offer  at  once,  and  found 
that  his  suit  fitted  me  as  well  as  my  own.  The 
banquet  was  a  great  affair,  with  a  vast  concourse 

254 


A  VISIT  TO  KUSSIA 


of  "  skis,"  "  offs,"  "  neffs,"  and  so  on — little  tag- 
ends  of  words  by  which  one  may  tell  a  Russian 
name,  even  if  it  were  possible  not  to  tell  it  from 
its  general  appearance  and  sound  without  them. 

After  a  few  days  at  the  Greigs',  I  left  for  Mos- 
cow, where  I  was  received  by  Prince  Dombriski, 
brother-in-law  of  the  Emperor.  The  old  city  of 
Moscow  impressed  me  more  than  any  other  city 
of  Europe.  It  seemed  to  belong  to  quite  another 
world  and  to  a  different  civilization.  There  is 
something  primitive  and  prehistoric  about  it — 
elemental  in  its  somberness  and  in  its  grandeur. 
I  was  astonished  to  find  in  the  Kremlin  a  portrait 
of  Napoleon  at  the  battle  of  Borodino. 

In  going  from  the  capital  to  Moscow  over  the 
straight  line  of  railway,  I  heard  much  of  the  way 
that  the  Czar  Nicholas  had  built  the  road.  It  is 
said  that  he  summoned  to  him  his  chief  contractor 
and  engineer,  Carmichael,  and  asked  him  to  make 
specifications  for  the  line  as  arranged  for  between 
the  two  cities.  The  Czar  confidently  expected 
that  he  was  being  deceived  about  all  matters  of 
this  kind,  and  was  prepared  for  fraud  in  this  en- 
terprise. Carmichael  drew  up  elaborate  specifi- 
cations, which  Nicholas  saw  at  once  were  entirely 
too  elaborate,  and  gave  abundant  room  for  "  pick- 
ings." He  turned  to  Carmichael  and  asked  if  the 
specifications  were  all  right.  Carmichael  assured 
him  they  were.  "  All  right,  then,"  said  Nicholas, 
"  I  shall  turn  them  over,  just  as  they  are,  to  Major 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Whistler."  The  Major  was  the  uncle  of  the 
famous  artist  of  to-day.  Whistler  built  the  road 
on  Carmichael's  specifications,  and  made  a  for- 
tune, which  has  been  the  foundation  of  a  half 
dozen  family  estates — the  Winans,  Harrison, 
Whistler  estates,  et  al. 

I  observed  a  peculiar  effect  of  the  direct 
method  of  the  Czar  in  building  a  straight  road  to 
Moscow.  All  the  big  cities  and  even  the  prosper- 
ous and  important  towns  had,  without  exception, 
been  left  at  varying  distances  from  the  line  of 
railway.  At  the  little  stations  on  the  route  the 
Eussians  would  get  off  and  get  hot  water  in  samo- 
vars and  make  tea,  each  of  them  carrying  a  sup- 
ply of  tea  in  bricks,  with  square  loaf  sugar  in  their 
pockets. 

Nijnii  Novgorod  I  found  a  wonderful  city. 
There,  on  the  "  Mother  "  Volga,  as  the  Russians 
call  it,  I  saw  the  origin  of  all  the  world's  fairs  and 
expositions,  in  this  great  fair,  at  which  the  na- 
tions of  a  world  unknown  to  Europe  and  America 
assemble  for  traffic  and  barter.  More  than 
100,000,000  rubles,  or,  roughly,  $50,000,000, 
change  hands  in  six  weeks.  There  the  traveler, 
who  is  too  indolent  or  too  poor  to  see  the  remote 
tribes  of  the  earth,  may  have  all  these  strange  and 
outlandish  races  come  to  him,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Volga.  It  was  a  marvelous  experience  to  me,  and 
I  considered  it  as  well  worth  a  trip  around  the 
world  to  see  Nijnii  Novgorod  alone. 

256 


A  VISIT  TO  RUSSIA 


Some  time  afterward,  when  I  was  in  England, 
I  received  a  letter  from  Baron  Brimo,  the  Russian 
Ambassador,  enclosing  a  letter  from  Colonel 
Greig,  the  aide-de-camp  of  the  Grand  Duke  Con- 
stantine.  He  said  that  the  Grand  Duke  had 
read  my  book,  Young  America  Abroad,  with  inter- 
est. The  Grand  Duke,  he  said,  was  greatly- 
pleased  with  my  descriptions  of  Russia,  with  my 
exposure  of  the  Crimean  fiasco,  and  with  my  pre- 
dictions as  to  the  future  development  and  greatness 
of  the  country.  He  added  that  the  Russian  Gov- 
ernment would  like  to  have  me  visit  the  region  of 
the  Amur,  Petropauloffski  and  Vladivostok,  and 
to  make  a  report  of  the  prospects  of  far-eastern 
Siberia. 

The  Government  proposed  to  make  all  the 
arrangements  for  me,  so  that  I  could  travel  in 
luxury  and  leisure ;  but  I  could  not  then  undertake 
60  extended  an  enterprise,  besides  I  have  ever 
preferred  to  follow  my  own  ideas  rather  than  those 
of  others.  I  desired  to  pursue  original  lines  of  in- 
vestigation, to  go  over  new  routes  of  travel  and  of 
trade,  to  explore  corners  of  the  world  that  had  not 
been  worn  into  paths  by  the  myriad  feet  of  travel- 
ers. I  have  always  felt  hampered  in  trying  to 
carry  out  the  suggestions  of  others.  I  have  found 
that  there  is  but  one  course  for  me,  if  I  am  to  suc- 
ceed, and  that  is  to  follow  my  own  counsel.  I 
must  be  myself,  untrammeled,  unfettered,  or  I 
fail.    If  I  had  gone  to  Eastern  Siberia  for  the 

257 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Russian  Government,  I  might  have  succeeded  in 
the  way  the  Government  expected ;  but  the  chances, 
I  consider,  would  have  been  against  me.  If  I  had 
gone  there  at  my  own  motion,  I  might  have 
created  a  sensation  by  exploiting  that  vast  and 
magnificent  region,  which  must  soon  play  a  tre- 
mendously important  part  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 


258 


CHAPTER   XXI 

BUILDING     TUlO     FIUST     STUEIOT- KAIL  WAYS     IN 

ENGLAND 

1858 

In  '58,  when  I  visited  Philadelphia  on  business 
of  Queen  Maria  Cristina,  of  Si)ain,  I  observed  the 
network  of  street-railways  in  that  city,  which 
then,  perhaps,  had  the  most  perfect  system  of  sur- 
face transportation  in  the  world.  I  was  struck  with 
the  idea  of  the  great  convenience  these  railways 
must  be  to  business  men  and  to  all  workers,  and 
wondered  why  London,  with  so  many  more  persons, 
had  never  had  recourse  to  the  street-railway.  At 
that  time  there  was  not  an  inch  of  "  tramway,"  or 
street-railway,  in  Great  Britain,  or  anywhere  out- 
side of  New  York  and  Philadt'li)hia.  I  stored  the 
idea  up  in  my  mind,  intending  to  utilize  it  some 
day,  when  I  returned  to  England. 

Before  undertaking  the  work  of  constructing 
Btreet-railways  in  England,  I  was  called  upon  to 
do  a  little  financiering  for  my  father-in-law,  Colonel 
George  T.  M.  Davis.  Colonel  Davis  came  to  mo 
in  London  and  wished  mo  to  assist  in  organizing 

259 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 

the  Adirondack  Railway  in  upper  New  York.  He 
had  been  introduced  to  Hamilton  and  Waddell,  who 
had  a  grant  from  the  New  York  legislature  of 
600,000  acres  in  the  Adirondacks ;  but  nothing 
could  be  done  at  that  time.  Later,  in  '64,  I  organ- 
ized the  Adirondack  road,  and  met  General  Rose- 
crans  and  Cheney,  of  Little  Falls,  at  the  Astor 
House,  for  the  purpose  of  building  the  railway.  I 
subscribed  $20,000  for  myself  and  $20,000  for  my 
wife,  and  got  a  large  sum  from  my  friends.  A 
large  party  of  us  went  in  carriages  from  the  United 
States  Hotel,  Saratoga,  through  the  country  along 
the  proposed  route  to  Lucerne.  George  Augustus 
Sala,  who  was  visiting  this  country  at  the  time,  was 
with  us,  also  Dr.  T.  C.  Durant,  president  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier,  and  J.  S.  T.  Stranahan,  of  Brook- 
lyn. This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Adirondack  road, 
of  which  Colonel  Davis  was  the  president  when  he 
died  in  '88.  My  plan  was  to  build  the  road  through 
the  entire  forest  to  Ogdensburg,  but  it  was  never 
carried  out.  This  was  four  decades  before  the 
millionaire  colonists  began  flocking  in  there,  the 
Huntingtons,  Astors,  Webbs,  Rockefellers,  Wood- 
ruffs, Durants,  et  al. 

My  first  efforts  in  introducing  street-railways 
in  England  were  made  in  Liverpool.  I  chose  this 
city  because  I  had  been  long  associated  with  it  and 
because,  as  it  was  the  leading  seaport  of  the  world, 
I  had  a  false  idea  that  it  was  progressive.  But  I 
iwas  soon  set  right  as  to  this  estimate  of  Liverpool. 

260 


STKEET-RAILWAYS  IN  ENGLAND 

I  recalled,  in  the  hour  of  discouragement,  the  great 
difficulty  I  had  had  years  before,  in  '50,  in  get- 
ting the  municipal  government  to  permit  us  to 
have  lights  and  fire  on  the  docks  at  night,  in  order 
to  facilitate  the  handling  of  the  very  traffic  that 
was  the  basis  of  the  city's  prosperity.  Now, 
when  I  proposed  the  laying  of  a  street-railway,  I 
found  the  leading  men  of  the  city  just  as  narrow 
and  just  as  hopelessly  behind  the  times  as  they 
had  been  in  the  matter  of  improving  shipping 
facilities.  They  would  not  consider  the  proposi- 
tion at  all. 

But  this  did  not  stop  my  efforts  nor  dampen  my 
ardor.  I  felt  that  the  plan  would  succeed  some- 
where in  England,  and  I  began  to  look  about  to 
see  where  the  best  chances  of  success  might  be 
found.  All  through  the  year  '58  and  into  '59  I 
was  at  work  upon  my  original  plan.  I  had  made 
every  possible  arrangement  for  the  immediate 
construction  of  a  railway,  if  I  could  only  get  some 
municipality  to  grant  the  necessary  permission. 

Finally,  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  man  I 
wanted  was  John  Laird,  the  progressive  and 
energetic  ship-builder,  the  man  who  afterward 
built  the  Alabama  and  other  Confederate  craft, 
and  who  was  at  the  time  chairman  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Birkenhead,  just  across  the  Mersey 
opposite  Liverpool.  Surely,  thought  I,  here  is  a 
man  with  enterprise  enough  to  appreciate  this 
thing,  which  means  so  much  for  the  working  peo- 

261 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

pie  and  all  business  men.  So  I  went  to  Mr.  Laird, 
and  after  a  long  conference  with  him,  I  made  a 
formal  request  to  the  Commissioners  for  permis- 
sion to  construct  a  surface  railway,  or  "  tram- 
way," as  it  is  called  in  England.  My  proposition 
was  to  lay  a  track  four  miles  long,  running  out  to 
the  Birkenhead  Park.  I  offered  to  lay  the  road  at 
my  own  expense,  to  pave  a  certain  proportion  of 
the  streets  through  which  the  line  passed,  and  to 
charge  fares  lower  than  those  then  charged  by  the 
omnibuses.  If  the  line  did  not  then  satisfy  the  city 
authorities,  I  was  to  remove  it  at  my  own  expense 
and  to  place  all  the  streets  affected  in  as  good 
order  as  when  the  road  was  begun. 

I  found  Mr.  Laird  as  liberal-minded  as  I  had  ex- 
pected, and  with  his  influence,  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners consented  to  let  me  make  the  experiment. 
I  went  to  work  at  once,  and  the  road  was  pushed 
through  with  great  despatch.  I  felt  that  it  ought 
to  get  into  operation  before  the  'buses  and  other 
transportation  companies  stirred  up  too  much 
opposition.  As  soon  as  the  working  people  found 
how  comfortable  and  cheap  the  new  mode  of  con- 
veyance was,  I  felt  sure  they  would  stand  up  for 
it  so  strongly  as  to  defeat  the  efforts  of  the  omni- 
bus men  to  tear  up  the  line. 

The  "tramway"  proved  a  success  from  the 
start,  and  became  as  popular  as  I  had  expected. 
It  was  crowded  with  passengers  at  all  hours  of 
the  day.    The  road  is  there  to-day ;  and  I  learned 

262 


STREET-RAILWAYS  IN  ENGLAND 

a  curious  thing  in  connection  with  the  line  only 
recently.  Twelve  years  ago  the  cashier  of  the 
restaurant  in  the  Mills  Hotel  No.  1,  Mr.  Bryan, 
was  the  manager  of  the  street-railway  I  had  built 
in  Birkenhead  forty-two  years  ago. 

Another  incident  of  this  period  I  should  record 
here.  I  invited  to  Birkenhead  most  of  the  lead- 
ing journalists  and  writers  of  London,  having  in 
view,  of  course,  an  intended  invasion  of  the 
great  metropolis.  While  these  men  were  together 
I  suggested  the  organization  of  a  literary  club, 
and  this  suggestion  was  the  germ  from  which 
grew  the  Savage  Club  of  London.  My  speech  at 
the  opening  of  the  first  street-railway  in  the 
Old  World  will  appear  in  my  forthcoming  book 
of  speeches. 

As  soon  as  I  had  completed  my  work  in  Bir- 
kenhead, I  went  to  London,  and  opened  a  cam- 
paign for  "  tramways "  in  that  metropolis  of 
4,000,000  people.  It  was  a  complex  business  from 
the  first,  and  I  had  to  make  a  study  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  conditions,  and,  above  all,  of  the 
prejudices  of  citizens.  The  first  step  was  to 
apply  to  every  parish,  for  the  parish  there  is  our 
ward,  and  something  more,  for  it  has  a  far  greater 
measure  of  home  rule.  Each  parish  had  to  grant 
permission  for  any  tramway  that  was  to  invade 
its  ancient  and  sacred  precincts. 

The  greatest  difficulty  was  the  one  I  had  most 
dreaded  from  the  start — the  opposition  of  the  'bus 

263 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

men.  There  are,  or  were  at  that  time,  6,000  omni- 
buses in  the  streets  of  London,  and  in  every  one 
of  the  drivers,  and  in  every  one  who  was  inter- 
ested in  the  profits  of  the  business,  my  tramway 
project  had  an  unrelenting  foe.  I  found  that  the 
influence  of  these  men  was  tremendous,  because 
they  reached  the  masses  of  the  people  in  a  way 
that  I  could  never  hope  to  do.  Their  efforts  were 
unremitting.  They  worked  upon  the  different 
parish  governments,  upon  the  people  at  large, 
upon  the  municipal  government,  and  upon  Parlia- 
ment itself.  I  believe  they  had  sufficient  influ- 
ence to  have  carried  the  war  even  into  the  cabinet 
and  to  the  throne. 

However,  as  I  shall  soon  relate,  the  opposition 
of  the  'buses  did  not  prove  to  be  as  terrible  in  the 
end  as  I  had  feared.  The  heaviest  blows  came 
from  a  higher  source.  The  "  people,"  in  Eng- 
land, as  elsewhere,  seem  very  powerful  at  first,  in 
the  beginnings  of  all  enterprises.  To  oppose 
them  would  seem  to  be  inviting  destruction.  But 
in  the  end  it  is  found  that  the  real  power  is  lodged 
elsewhere,  and  whenever  this  real  power  wants  a 
thing  done,  the  "  people  "  do  not  exist.  The  fic- 
tion that  they  do  exist  disappears  at  once  in  the 
clear  atmosphere  of  "  exigency." 

The  first  of  these  real  powers  that  I  had  to 
attack  was  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Aldermen. 
I  appeared  before  the  board  with  a  carefully  pre- 
pared model  of  the  tramways  I  proposed.    It  was 

264 


STKEET-RAILWAYS  IN  ENGLAND 

a  sort  of  public  hearing,  and  I  was  very  closely 
questioned  about  the  plans  of  operating  the  road, 
the  effect  its  presence  in  the  narrow  streets  would 
have  in  interfering  with  traffic,  the  danger  of 
accidents,  and  so  on.  There  was  present  a  noble 
lord  who,  I  saw,  was  fighting  desperately  against 
the  project.  He  eyed  me  closely  and  made  sharp 
interrogations.  When  he  wished  to  be  particu- 
larly effective,  as  is  the  manner  of  Englishmen  of 
his  class,  he  would  drop  his  monocle,  then  read- 
just it  carefully,  with  many  writhings  and  twist- 
ings  of  his  eyebrows,  and,  when  the  single  glass 
was  properly  adjusted,  half  close  the  other  eye 
and  concentrate  the  full  blaze  of  the  monocle  upon 
his  victim.  If  the  victim  survives  this,  so  much 
the  worse  for  him,  for  he  will  then  be  subjected  to 
a  long  drawl  and  to  "  hems  "  and  "  haws  "  that 
would  shatter  the  composure  of  a  Philadelphia 
lawyer. 

"VVe  soon  took  up  the  problem  of  laying  the 
tramway  up  Ludgate  Hill,  where  the  street  is  ex- 
ceedingly narrow.  His  lordship  fixed  me  with  his 
glittering  monocle.  I  saw  from  which  direction  the 
firing  would  come.  After  readjusting  his  monocle, 
so  as  to  get  the  range  better,  he  said : 

"  May  I — ah — ask  a  question,  Mr. — ah — 
Train? "  MTien  an  Englishman  wants  to  be  sar- 
castic, and  ironical,  and  cutting,  he  finds  the  means 
readiest  to  his  mind  in  a  pretended  forgetting  of 
your  name. 

265 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY   STATES 

"  That  is  what  I  am  here  for,  my  lord,"  I  re- 
plied, as  graciously  as  possible. 

"  You  know,  of  course,  how  very  narrow  is 
Ludgate  Hill.  Suppose  that  when  I  go  down  to 
the  Mansion  House  in  my  carriage,  one  of  my 
horses  should  slip  on  your  d — d  rail,  and  break  his, 
leg — ^would  you  pay  for  the  horse! " 

This  produced  a  sensation,  for  the  English 
love  a  lord  even  more  than  we  plain  Americans 
do.  As  soon  as  the  stir  had  ceased,  I  replied,  in 
a  voice  that  carried  to  the  ends  of  the  hall: 

"  My  lord,  if  you  could  convince  me  that  your 
d — d  old  horse  would  not  have  fallen  if  the  rail 
had  not  been  there,  I  certainly  should  pay  for  it." 
This  retort  caught  the  audience  so  happily  that 
the  tide  swept  around  my  way,  to  the  discomfi- 
ture of  the  noble  lord.  The  hearing  resulted  in  my 
obtaining  permission  to  lay  a  tramway  from  the 
Marble  Arch  at  Oxford  Street  and  from  Hyde 
Park  to  Bayswater,  a  distance  of  one  or  two  miles. 

I  soon  built  other  lines,  also :  one  from  Victoria 
Station  to  Westminster  Abbey  and  the  Houses  of 
Parliament,  and  another  from  Westminster  Bridge 
to  Kennington  Gate  on  the  way  to  Clapham.  These 
were  constructed  on  my  patent  of  a  half-inch 
flange. 

The  omnibuses,  defeated  in  this  part  of  the 
fighting,  resorted  to  peculiar  but  effective  tac- 
tics. As  soon  as  I  laid  a  portion  of  my  tracks — 
which  was  done  upon  the  same  terms  under  which 

266 


STREET-RAILWAYS  IN  ENGLAND 

I  had  put  down  the  line  in  Birkenhead — the  'bus 
drivers  tried  in  every  possible  way  to  wreck  their 
vehicles  on  the  rails.  They  would  drive  across 
again  and  again  and  take  the  rails  in  the  most 
reckless  way,  in  order  to  catch  and  twist  their 
wheels.  They  were  very  often  successful,  and 
there  were  many  accidents  of  this  sort.  The  ex- 
citement increased  greatly  with  every  foot  of 
track  laid  down.  But  the  people,  as  in  Birken- 
head, were  tremendously  in  favor  of  the  tramway. 
It  was  such  a  convenience  to  them  that  they  sided 
with  me  in  the  fight.  The  'bus  drivers  and  com- 
panies and  the  aristocracy  were  against  me — the 
one  because  my  trams  interfered  with  their  busi- 
ness, the  other  because  they  owned  their  private 
conveyances,  and  did  not  like  to  drive  across  the 
rails.  I  dressed  conductors  and  drivers  in  the  uni- 
form of  volunteers,  to  which  many  soldiers  ob- 
jected. In  the  meanwhile  the  cars  were  crowded 
with  passengers  at  all  hours,  there  being  through- 
out the  day  a  rush  such  as  is  seen  in  New  York 
only  in  what  we  call  the  "  rush  hours." 

In  all  this  excitement  and  press  of  travel,  acci- 
dents were,  of  course,  unavoidable.  I  dreaded 
one,  as  I  felt  it  would  be  the  crucial  point.  It 
might  turn  against  me  the  popular  feeling,  now  so 
strongly  setting  in  my  direction,  for  the  "  mob  " 
(so  called)  of  London  is  fully  as  excitable  and  as 
ungovernable  as  the  "mob"  of  Paris,  and  its 
prejudices  are  more  deeply  intrenched.  Finally, 
19  267 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

the  dreaded  accident  came.  A  boy  was  killed,  and 
I  was  arrested  for  manslaughter. 

In  order  to  appease  public  feeling,  I  paid  the 
expenses  of  the  boy's  funeral,  and  did  everything 
that  could  possibly  be  done  to  pay,  in  a  material 
way,  for  his  death.  The  accident  was  entirely  un- 
avoidable, and  the  tramway  was  not  responsible 
for  it,  but  there  was  a  great  deal  of  feeling, 
chiefly  due  to  the  agitation  of  the  'bus  drivers. 
Sir  John  Villiers  Shelley,  member  of  Parliament, 
a  relative  of  the  poet,  who  was  chairman  of  the 
Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  and  the  representa- 
tive of  the  omnibus  people,  led  the  fight  against 
me.  We  had  a  terrific  struggle.  The  bill  to  au- 
thorize the  tramways  had  gone  to  Parliament,  and 
this  was  now  defeated  by  a  few  votes.  I  had  six 
of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  England  to  represent 
me  (through  Baxter,  Rose  &  Norton,  solicitors), 
but  the  influence  of  the  'bus  men,  aided  by  the  sen- 
timent in  certain  quarters  against  me  on  account 
of  my  speeches  in  favor  of  the  American  Union, 
was  too  strong  for  me,  and  I  had  to  abandon  the 
fight  in  London. 

I  then  went  to  the  Potteries  in  Staffordshire, 
and  there,  after  renewing  the  same  kind  of  fight- 
ing that  I  had  had  in  London,  in  every  new  town  I 
undertook  to  lay  railways  in,  I  succeeded  in  build- 
ing seven  miles  of  track  through  the  crockery- 
making  country.     Those  tracks  are  there  to-day. 

My  failure  in  London,  which  was  to  have  been 

268 


STREET-RAILWAYS  IN  ENGLAND 

expected,  must  be  set  off  by  these  successes  in 
Birkenhead  and  in  Staffordshire.  I  am  entitled 
to  the  credit  of  laying  the  first  street-railways  in 
England,  having  to  overcome  the  most  formidable 
of  all  the  enemies  of  progress — British  prejudice. 
I  afterward  went  to  Darlington,  where  Stephen- 
son had  built  his  first  railway,  from  Stockton  to 
Darlington,  in  '29,  the  year  of  my  birth,  and  I  con- 
structed a  tramway  there  to  connect  the  two  steam 
railways  through  that  town. 

My  life,  therefore,  spans  the  entire  railway 
building  of  the  world.  The  first  railway  was 
built  the  year  I  was  born,  and  since  that  time,  in  a 
space  of  seventy-three  years,  more  than  200,000 
miles  of  railway  have  been  constructed  in  the 
United  States  alone.  In  much  of  this  great  work 
I  have  had  some  share.  I  suggested  the  railway 
that  connects  Melbourne  with  its  port,  and  mapped 
out  the  present  railway  system  in  Australia  thirty- 
nine  years  ago ;  I  organized  the  line  that  connects  ^ 
the  Eastern  States  with  the  great  Middle  West — 
the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway;  and  I 
organized  and  built  the  first  railway  that  pierced 
the  great  American  desert,  and  brought  the  At- 
lantic and  Pacific  coasts  into  close  touch  and  led  to 
the  development  of  the  far  West. 

I  may  mention  here,  also,  that  I  built  a  street- 
railway  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  which  is  still  in 
use;  and  one  in  Copenhagen,  which  proved  that 
there  was  at  least  something  sound  in  "  the  state 

269 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

of  Denmark."  Other  railways,  as  in  Sydney  and 
Melbourne,  Australia,  suggested  by  me,  have  been 
changed  from  horse  to  trolley  lines.  I  also  sug- 
gested the  road  in  Bombay,  India,  which  was  the 
first  railway  in  all  Asia,  now  extended. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  record  that  when  I  be- 
gan building  street-railways,  I  sent  to  the  United 
States  and  got  the  plans  of  the  Philadelphia  roads 
and  of  the  New  York  Third  Avenue  line.  It  was 
therefore  upon  the  models  of  American  roads 
that  these  foreign  railways  were  constructed. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  it  is  remarkable  that 
little  is  known  of  my  connection  with  these  great 
enterprises — for  they  were  great,  and  epoch-mak- 
ing. But  my  achievements  in  England,  in  the 
pioneer  work  of  building  street-railways,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  recorded  history.  An  account  of  my  work 
there  will  be  found  in  a  book  by  Dr.  Albert  Shaw, 
editor  of  the  Review  of  Reviews,  Municipal  Gov- 
ernment in  Great  Britain,  as  well  as  in  other 
books  that  deal  with  the  industrial  life  of  the 
period. 


270 


CHAPTER  XXn 

ENGLAND  AND  OUR  CIVIL  WAR — BLOCKADE  RUN- 
NING 

I  HAVE  referred  already  to  the  antagonism 
'felt  toward  me  in  certain  English  quarters  because 
of  my  speeches  in  favor  of  the  Federal  American 
Union  in  the  hour  of  its  danger.  Love  of  country 
was  always  stronger  in  me  than  love  of  money, 
and  I  let  slip  no  opportunity  to  defend  the  cause 
of  the  Union  and  to  prove  to  the  English  of  the 
upper  classes  that  they  were  mistaken  in  suppos- 
ing that  the  Confederacy  could  succeed.  Those 
who  were  not  in  England  at  this  period,  when  the 
South  was  in  the  first  flush  of  its  success,  and  when 
it  seemed  likely  that  England  and  France  would 
go  to  the  assistance  of  the  South,  merely  to 
strengthen  themselves  by  weakening  the  power  of 
the  United  States,  can  not  appreciate  the  extent 
or  the  power  of  British  sympathy  for  the  Con- 
federacy. The  element  in  England  that  took  sides 
with  the  South  was  tremendously  influential.  I 
had  already  felt  its  power  in  a  personal  way 
through  the  defeat  of  my  street-railway  projects. 

271 


\y 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY  STATES 


v/ 


As  soon  as  I  observed  the  trend  of  Britisli 
opinion,  I  went  into  public  halls  and  spoke  in 
favor  of  the  Union,  and  tried  to  show  that  right 
and  might  were  both  on  the  side  of  the  North,  and 
that,  no  matter  how  many  successes  the  South 
might  win  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  it  would 
inevitably  be  crushed  beneath  the  weight  of  the 
rest  of  the  country.  I  did  not  confine  myself  to 
speeches  of  this  sort.  I  attacked  the  men  who 
were  trading  on  the  war  by  sending  blockade  run- 
ners into  Southern  ports  in  violation  of  the  rules 
of  war.  And  so  I  was  in  some  relation  with  Lord 
John  Russell  on  the  one  hand  and  Emperor  Louis 
Napoleon  on  the  other,  in  the  critical  days  of  the 
Mason-Slidell  affair  and  the  discussion  of  "bel- 
ligerent rights  "  of  the  South. 

Before  taking  part  in  this  desperate  effort  to 
stem  the  tide  of  British  opinion,  and  to  defeat  the 
efforts  of  British  traders  to  make  money  by  sell- 
ing merchandise  to  the  South  contraband  of  war,  I 
placed  my  wife  and  children  on  board  a  steamer 
for  New  York,  in  order  to  remove  them  from 
troubled  scenes.  This  fight  was  to  cost  me  the  op- 
portunity of  making  a  fortune  of  perhaps  $5,000,- 
000,  by  upsetting  my  street-railway  projects. 

I  may  mention  here  that  in  '58,  during  the  Ital- 
ian war,  I  bought  the  London  Morning  Chronicle 
for  the  French  Emperor,  paying  $10,000  for  it, 
and  putting  Thornton  Hunt,  son  of  Leigh  Hunt, 
in  editorial  charge,  at  a  salary  of  $2,000  a  year. 

272 


ENGLAND  AND  OUR  CIVIL  WAR 

It  was  a  daily  paper ;  and  as  the  Emperor  wanted 
a  weekly  also,  I  arranged  for  him  the  purchase  of 
the  London  Spectator  at  the  same  price,  and  put 
in  Townsend  (I  think  that  was  the  name)  as 
editor,  at  a  salary  of  $2,000  a  year.  When  the  war 
was  over,  these  papers  of  course  passed  out  of 
our  hands,  and  the  Chronicle  made  a  most  savage 
attack  on  me  in  the  tramway  discussion,  taking 
the  part  of  the  omnibus  drivers.  It  again  at- 
tacked me  for  my  exposure  of  blockade  running 
from  British  ports.  I  had  given  the  names  of 
the  men  interested,  the  marks  of  the  cargoes,  and 
the  destination  of  the  shipments,  in  a  letter  that  I 
wrote  to  the  New  York  Herald.  These  men 
thought  they  had  assassinated  the  United  States 
Republic. 

The  feeling  against  me  was  so  intense  at  one 
time  that  I  anticipated  an  attempt  to  kill  me. 
Strong  influences  were  brought  to  bear  upon  me 
to  stop  a  paper  that  I  had  established  in  London, 
with  my  private  secretary,  George  Pickering 
Bemis,  as  manager,  for  the  purpose  of  disseminat- 
ing correct  news  and  views  about  the  civil  war. 
Secretary  Seward,  by  the  way,  sent  $100,  through 
his  private  secretary,  Mr.  J.  C.  Derby  (who  was 
afterward  connected  with  the  house  of  D.  Apple- 
ton  and  Company,  and  wrote  his  recollections  un- 
der the  title,  Fifty  Years  Among  Authors,  Books, 
and  Publishers),  to  assist  in  keeping  up  this  jour- 
nal.   The  intense  strain  wore  upon  me  to  such  an 

273 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

extent  that  I  had  an  attack  of  insomnia,  and  almost 
lost  my  senses  at  times.  I  would  not  go  armed, 
but  relied  for  defense  upon  a  small  cane  that  I 
carried  under  my  arm,  so  grasped  by  the  end  in 
front  as  to  enable  me  to  whirl  it  about  instantly 
in  case  I  should  be  attacked  from  the  rear. 

In  August,  '62, 1  observed  that  a  vessel  called  the 
Mavrockadatis  was  acting  suspiciously,  and  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  she  was  a  blockade  runner. 
I  believed  that  she  was  loaded  with  supplies  for 
the  Confederates,  and  that  as  soon  as  she  was  clear 
at  sea  she  would  make  for  a  Southern  port  or  for 
some  rendezvous  with  a  Confederate  ship.  I  de- 
termined to  frustrate  this  design,  and  took  pas- 
sage on  her  for  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  which 
I  supposed  was  only  her  ostensible  destination. 
Of  course,  I  registered  under  an  assumed  name, 
taking  the  name  "  Oliver  "  for  the  occasion. 

As  it  turned  out,  I  was  wrong.  The  vessel 
kept  on  her  course  as  represented,  and  we  arrived 
at  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  instead  of  at  a  South- 
ern port.  This  broke  up  my  program,  as  I  had  in- 
tended, immediately  upon  reaching  a  Southern 
port,  to  go  direct  to  Richmond  and  see  if  anything 
could  be  done  to  end  the  war.  As  I  may  not  have 
occasion  again  to  refer  to  this  plan,  which  I  had 
had  in  mind  for  some  time,  I  shall  speak  of  it  here. 
I  had  arranged  with  the  President  and  with  Mr. 
Seward  to  go  to  Richmond  to  see  what  could  be 
done. 

274 


ENGLAND  AND  OUR  CIVIL  WAR 

My  idea  was  that  the  Southern  leaders  were  in 
complete  ignorance  of  the  power  and  resources  of 
the  North ;  they  had  fancied,  because  of  the  great 
military  reputation  of  Southern  soldiers,  that  it 
would  be  comparatively  easy  to  beat  Northern 
troops  in  the  field ;  and  that,  in  the  last  event,  Eng- 
land and  France  would  come  to  their  assistance. 
I  felt  confident  of  convincing  Jefferson  Davis  and 
other  Southern  leaders  that  all  these  views  were 
erroneous.  I  thought  it  would  be  a  simple  thing 
to  prove  that  they  could  not  count  on  the  assist- 
ance of  either  England  or  France,  as  these  two  na- 
tions would  not  unite,  and  neither  would  undertake 
the  task  alone.  I  also  thought  I  could  give  them 
such  evidence  of  the  great  resources  of  the  North, 
both  in  men  and  means,  that  they  would  recognize 
the  uselessness  of  the  struggle.  Another  view  I 
had  in  mind  was  that  I  could  impress  the  Southern- 
ers with  the  suggestion  that,  in  the  event  of  their 
abandoning  the  contest  at  that  stage,  they  could 
obtain  far  better  terms  than  the  victorious  North 
would  be  content  to  offer  after  a  long  and  harrow- 
ing war.  But  this  was  not  to  be.  Stanton  heard 
of  our  plans,  and  sent  Montgomery  Blair  to  nego- 
tiate with  the  Southern  leaders,  with  what  result 
is  too  well  known. 

I  landed  in  Newfoundland,  instead  of  in  the  ^ 
South,  as  I  have  said,  with  all  my  immediate  plans 
thwarted.    But  I  took  up  the  course  of  my  life 
exactly  at  the  point  where  I  stood.    I  was  in  New- 

275 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


foundland  just  one  day,  and  I  wrote  a  history  of 
that  Crown  Colony  from  the  information  I 
gleaned  in  this  brief  visit.  I  shall  republish  it 
some  day.  I  observed  in  St.  John's,  as  I  have  ob- 
served elsewhere,  that  people  are  fashioned  by 
their  occupations.  These  people  were  physicallji 
the  creation  of  fisheries.  I  noted  the  tomcod  mar- 
ried to  the  hake,  and  the  shark  wedded  to  the 
swordfish.  The  fish  of  the  sea,  which  they  ate 
and  upon  which  they  lived  and  had  their  being, 
were  all  represented  in  their  features,  from  the 
sardine  to  the  sperm  whale. 

From  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  I  went  to 
Boston,  by  way  of  St.  Johns,  New  Brunswick, 
stopping  at  Portland,  Maine,  for  a  brief  visit. 
At  Portland  I  was  met  by  B.  F.  Guild  on  be- 
half of  Curtis  Guild,  owner  of  the  Boston  Com- 
mercial Bulletin,  which  had  just  been  established. 
Guild  published  my  Union  speeches,  and  must 
have  spent  $1,000  a  week — the  Bulletin  was  a 
weekly  paper — in  advertising  them  and  my  other 
writings.  I  published  my  History  of  Newfound- 
land in  his  paper,  receiving  for  it  $10  a  column, 
the  only  pay  I  have  ever  received  from  a  news- 
paper or  other  periodical  for  my  work.  I  saw 
recently  a  notice  of  the  death  of  B.  F.  Guild, 
at  the  age  of  eighty-nine.  I  had  no  idea  he  was 
so  old. 

I  found  that  I  had  returned  to  my  country 
the  most  popular  American  in  public  life.    I  was 

276 


ENGLAND  AND  OUR  CIVIL  WAR 

greeted  everywhere  by  vast  concourses  of  people, 
who  cheered  me  and  demanded  speeches  about  the 
situation  in  England  and  my  experiences  there. 
At  Boston  I  was  met  by  a  tremendous  gathering, 
and  it  looked  like  a  procession  as  we  went  up 
State  Street  to  the  Revere  House.  I  was  placed 
in  the  rooms  that  had  been  occupied  by  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  now  King  Edward,  on  his  visit  to  Bos- 
ton two  years  before. 

I  was  not  long  in  Boston  before  I  got  into 
trouble  by  trying  to  enlighten  the  people  with  re- 
gard to  the  war.  There  was  a  great  assemblage 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  where  Sumner  was  to  speak,  and 
I  went  there  to  see  what  was  going  on.  Sumner 
was  not  a  very  effective  speaker  before  mixed 
audiences,  and  could  not  have  stood  up  for  twenty 
minutes  in  the  halls  of  London,  where  the  greatest 
freedom  of  debate  is  indulged  in,  and  where  every 
speaker  must  be  prepared  to  answer  quickly  and 
to  the  point  any  question  that  may  be  hurled  at 
him,  or  to  reply  with  sharpness  and  point  to  any 
retort  that  may  come  from  the  crowd  that  faces 
him. 

I  was  very  much  astonished,  therefore,  to  hear 
Sumner  challenge  any  one  in  the  audience  to  con- 
fute his  arguments.  I  knew,  of  course,  that  the 
gantlet  thus  lightly  thrown  down  was  a  mere  ora- 
torical figure,  but  in  England  it  would  have  been 
taken  up  at  once,  and  Sumner  would  have  been 
routed.    The  temptation  was  too  much  for  me.    I 

277 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

rose,  to  the  apparent  astomsliment  and  embarrass- 
ment of  the  orator  and  of  the  committee  on  the 
jDlatf orm,  and  said :  "  Mr.  Sumner,  when  you 
have  finished,  I  should  like  to  speak  a  word."  The 
cheering  that  greeted  my  acceptance  of  the  gaily- 
flung  challenge  was  cordial. 

As  soon  as  Sumner  had  finished  I  climbed 
to  the  platform.  There  I  had  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty with  the  committee,  which  seemed  deter- 
mined to  suppress  any  attempt  to  reply  to  the 
hero  and  god  of  the  upper  classes  in  Boston.  The 
moment  I  began  to  talk  the  committee  signaled  to 
the  band,  and  the  music  drowned  my  voice.  When 
the  band  stopped  I  started  again,  but  the  com- 
mittee endeavored  to  stop  me.  I  acted  as  my  own 
policeman  and  cleared  the  platform,  when 
another  rush  was  made  upon  me,  and  all  went 
tumbling  from  the  stage.  I  was  then  arrested  and 
taken  to  the  City  Hall.  The  crowd  seemed  de- 
cidedly with  me,  although  the  utmost  it  knew  as  to 
my  sentiments  was  that  I  was  opposed  to  making 
'je  instant  abolition  of  slavery  a  condition  precedent 
to  putting  an  end  to  the  war  (that  is,  on  Lincoln's 
platform.  Union,  with  or  without  slavery). 

In  a  few  minutes  there  was  a  crowd  of  some 
thousands  of  people  about  the  City  Hall  demand- 
ing loudly  that  I  be  set  at  liberty.  I  quieted  the 
people  by  sending  word  to  them  that  I  was  pre- 
paring a  proclamation  to  the  American  people. 
This  proclamation,  entitled  "  God  Save  the  Peo- 

278 


ENGLAND  AND  OUR  CIVIL  WAR 


pie,"  was  published  by  Guild  in  the  Bulletin — 
and  I  should  like  to  get  a  copy  of  it,  as  I  have 
lost  my  own.  This  arrest  did  not  interfere  with 
me  very  much. 

I  made  a  contract  with  Guild  to  lecture  in  the 
North  and  West,  and  my  first  lecture  was  given 
in  the  Academy  of  Music,  New  York.  The  gen- 
eral subject  was  the  abolition  question,  as  it  re- 
lated to  the  war  between  the  States.  At  this  meet- 
ing Cassius  M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  was  made  chair- 
man, but  the  audience  did  not  like  that,  and  a  big 
cabbage  was  thrown  to  the  stage  from  the  gallery. 
I  then  took  charge  of  the  meeting  myself,  and 
walking  to  the  edge  of  the  stage,  said :  "  I  see 
that  you  do  not  like  Mr.  Clay ;  but  he  should  have 
a  fair  chance.  If  Mr.  Guild  will  arrange  for  a 
meeting  at  Cooper  Institute  to-morrow  night,  I 
will  debate  with  Mr.  Clay,  and  you  can  then  fire  at 
me  cabbages  or  gold  dollars,  as  you  like.  I  pro- 
pose the  following  subject  for  the  discussion: 
American  Slavery  as  a  Stepping-stone  from  Afri- 
can Barbarism  to  Christian  Civilization;  hence,  it 
is  a  Divine  Institution."    Mr.  Clay  accepted. 

The  next  evening,  at  Cooper  Institute,  there 
was  a  large  audience  that  packed  the  hall  from 
door  to  stage;  $1,300  were  taken  at  the  box-office. 
The  papers  on  the  following  morning  gave  from 
two  to  four  columns  of  the  discussion,  and  the 
London  Times  considered  it  sufficiently  important, 
even  to  Englishmen,  to  give  a  long  account  and 

279 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


editorial  comments.  It  said  that  the  honors  of 
the  debate  had  been  with  me,  and  gave  a  specimen 
of  my  repartee,  which,  it  said,  had  swept  Mr.  Clay; 
off  his  feet. 

Mr.  Clay  had  referred  in  his  speech  to  an  in- 
terview he  had  had  with  President  Lincoln,  who 
was  then  hesitating  as  to  issuing  the  Proclamation 
of  Emancipation.  Mr.  Clay  said,  "I  told  the 
President  that  I  would  not  flesh  my  sword  in  the 
defense  of  Washington  unless  he  issued  a  procla- 
mation freeing  the  slaves."  My  reply  was :  "  It 
is  fair  to  assume  that,  in  order  to  make  Major- 
General  Cassius  M.  Clay  flesh  his  sword,  the 
President  will  issue  the  proclamation."  There 
was  loud  laughter  at  this.  The  President  did 
issue  his  proclamation  three  months  after  this. 

I  received  a  postal  card  the  other  day  from 
Clay,  who  is  now  a  nonogenarian,  in  his  armed 
castle  in  Kentucky. 

I  was  in  Washington  after  this  debate,  which 
occurred  in  September,  '62,  and  was  warmly  re- 
ceived by  the  President  and  members  of  his  cabi- 
net. I  had  heard  very  much,  of  course,  about  the 
freedom  of  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  was  not, 
therefore,  astonished  to  hear  him  relate  several 
characteristic  anecdotes.  In  fact,  three  of  the  most 
prominent  men  in  the  United  States  at  that  time 
were  striving  to  outdo  one  another  in  jests — the 
President,  Senator  Nesmyth  of  Oregon,  and 
Senator  Nye, 

280 


ENGLAND  AND  OUE  CIVIL  WAR 

Mr.  Seward  invited  me  to  a  dinner  at  his  resi- 
dence, the  historic  house  where  later  the  assassin 
tried  to  kill  him,  where  General  Sickles  killed  Philip 
Barton  Key,  and  which  in  more  recent  years  was 
occupied  by  James  G.  Blaine.  Most  of  the  members 
of  the  cabinet  were  present.  I  was  asked  to  describe 
some  of  the  scenes  of  my  recent  travels,  and  told 
about  Chinese  dinners,  to  their  great  amusement. 
Afterward  I  told  them  a  story  then  current  about 
Wendell  Phillips,  the  abolitionist.  Phillips  was 
once  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  returned 
late  to  dinner  at  his  hotel.  As  he  approached  the 
door,  it  was  held  open  by  a  negro  slave.  Phillips 
said  haughtily  that  he  had  never  permitted  a 
slave  to  wait  on  him,  and  that  he  would  not  do  so 
now.  "  How  long  have  you  been  a  slave?  "  asked 
Mr.  Phillips.  The  negro  replied :  "  I  ain't  got  no 
time  to  talk  erbout  dat  now,  wid  only  five  minits 
fur  dinner."  Mr.  Phillips  told  the  slave  to  leave 
the  room,  that  he  would  not  let  him  serve  him  at 
the  table ;  he  would  wait  on  himself.  "  I  cain't 
do  dat,  suh ;  I  is  'sponsible  for  de  silber  on  de  table, 
suh!" 

Loud  laughter  greeted  this  story.  In  the  very 
midst  of  the  uproar  the  door  was  burst  open, 
and  Secretary  Stanton  appeared,  his  face  white 
with  emotion.  In  a  choking  voice,  that  was  scarcely 
audible  and  would  not  have  been  heard  had  not 
every  nerve  in  our  bodies  been  strained  to  catch 
the  momentous  words  we  expected,  he  said:  "A 

281 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

battle  is  raging  at  Antietam!  Ten  thousand  men 
have  been  killed,  and  the  rebels  are  now  probably_ 
marching  on  Washington !  " 

There  was  a  hush,  and  we  told  no  more  stories 
that  night.  It  is  remarkable  that  almost  all  the 
great  battles  hung  long  in  the  scales  of  victory. 
Neither  side  knew  whether  it  had  won  until  some 
time  after  the  fighting  had  ceased.  It  was  so  at 
Antietam,  and  had  been  so  in  the  case  of  Bull  Run 
or  Manassas.     The  true  tidings  came  in  slowly. 

I  took  no  part  in  the  war  on  the  battlefield,  be- 
cause as  soon  as  I  looked  into  the  causes  of  the 
war  and  its  continuance,  I  saw  that  it  was  a  con- 
'^  tract  war.  I  came  back  to  this  country  fully  ex- 
pecting to  serve.  I  had  been  assured  of  a  high 
commission;  but  could  not  conscientiously  take 
part  in  a  struggle  in  which  thousands  of  lives  were 
being  sacrificed  to  greed.  Such  was  my  honest 
belief,  and  such  was  my  course. 


282 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

BUILDING  THE   UNION    PACIFIC   RAILWAY 

1862-1870 

When  the  Englishmen  tore  up  my  street-rail- 
ways in  England,  I  made  a  speech  in  which  I  told 
them  I  would  build  a  railway  across  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  the  Great  American  Desert  which 
would  ruin  the  old  trade  routes  across  Egypt  to 
China  and  Japan.  I  pointed  out  then  that  this 
route  would  be  far  shorter  in  time  than  the  old 
route,  and  that  Europe  would  soon  be  traversing 
America  to  reach  the  Orient.  This  was  no  new 
idea,  sprung  at  the  moment  in  a  feeling  of  resent- 
ment. I  had  suggested  this  route  across  America 
ten  years  earlier,  at  Melbourne,  Australia. 

New  York,  then  as  now,  we  Americans  re- 
garded as  the  starting  point  of  all  great  enter- 
prises, and  to  New  York  I  came.  I  called  at  once 
upon  leaders  in  the  world  of  finance — Commodore 
Vanderbilt,  Commodore  Garrison,  William  B. 
Astor,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  Marshall  0.  Roberts, 
and  others,  and  frankly  told  them  of  my  plans. 
One  of  them  said  to  me : 

"  Train,  you  have  reputation  enough  now. 
20  283 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY   STATES 


Why  do  something  that  will  mar  it?  You  are 
known  all  over  the  world  as  the  Clipper-Ship 
King.  This  is  enough  glory  for  one  man.  If  you 
attempt  to  build  a  railway  across  the  desert  and 
over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the  world  will  call  you 
a  lunatic." 

And  this  was  all  that  I  received  from  these  gen- 
tlemen !  Not  a  word  of  encouragement,  not  a  cent 
of  contributed  funds — only  the  warning  that  the 
world,  like  themselves,  would  call  me  a  madman. 

Unaffected  by  this  cold  reception,  I  kept 
steadily  on  with  my  task,  and  proceeded  to  organ- 
ize the  great  railway.  Congress  granted  the 
necessary  charter  in  '62.  It  authorized  the  build- 
ing of  a  road  from  the  Missouri  Eiver  to  Cali- 
fornia, with  an  issue  of  $100,000,000  of  stock  and 
$50,000,000  of  bonds — to  be  issued  in  sections,  the 
first  section  to  be  at  the  rate  of  $16,000  a  mile; 
and  the  last  at  $48,000  a  mile,  with  20,000,000 
acres  of  land  in  alternate  sections ;  and  $2,000,000 
to  be  subscribed,  ten  per  centum  to  be  paid  into 
the  State  treasury  at  Albany. 

My  friends  in  Boston  took  the  stock,  but  I  failed 
to  get  the  cash  to  go  ahead  with  the  road  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Baltimore,  and  New  York.  At  this  point, 
when  matters  looked  a  little  dark,  an  idea  occurred 
to  me  that  cleared  the  sky.  It  made  the  construc- 
tion of  the  great  line  a  certainty.  In  Paris,  a  few 
years  before,  I  had  been  much  interested  in  new 
methods  of  finance  as  devised  by  the  brothers 

284 


BUILDING  THE   UNION  PACIFIC 

Emile  and  Isaac  Perr^r^.  These  shrewd  and 
ingenious  men,  finding  that  old  methods  could 
not  be  used  to  meet  many  demands  of  modern 
times,  invented  entirely  new  ones  which  they  or- 
ganized into  two  systems  known  as  the  Credit 
Mobilier  and  the  Credit  Foncier — or  systems  of 
credit  based  on  personal  property  and  land.  The 
French  Government  had  supported  these  systems 
of  the  Perreres,  and  Baron  Haussmann  had  re- 
sorted to  them  in  his  great  undertaking  in  rebuild- 
ing and  remodeling  the  French  capital,  making  it 
the  most  beautiful  city  of  the  world.  I  deter- 
mined upon  introducing  this  new  style  of  finance 
into  this  country. 

I  found  that  a  bill  had  been  passed  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  '59,  for  Duff  Green,  granting  authority 
for  the  organization  of  the  "  Pennsylvania  Fiscal 
Agency,"  which,  on  examination,  I  saw  could  be 
used  for  my  purpose.  I  bought  this  charter  for 
$25,000.  The  bill  had  been  "  engineered  "  through 
the  Pennsylvania  legislature  by  a  man  named  Hall, 
and  others  of  the  Philadelphia  Custom-House.  In 
order  to  make  it  suitable  for  our  uses,  I  wanted 
its  title  changed,  and  asked  to  have  the  legislature 
change  the  title  to  "  Credit  Mobilier  of  America." 
The  matter  went  through  without  trouble,  and  I 
paid  $500  for  having  this  done.  When  I  happened 
to  mention  to  William  H.  Harding,  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Inquirer,  that  it  had  cost  me  $500  to  have 
the  title  of  the  charter  altered,  he  told  me  he  could 

285 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

have  had  it  done  for  $50.  I  did  not  know  as  much 
of  the  ways  of  legislation  in  Pennsylvania  then  as 
I  did  later.  The  sum  I  paid  for  the  charter  was 
made  up  from  $5,000  cash  and  $20,000  of  the  bonds 
of  the  Credit  Mobilier.  I  was  to  have  $50,000  for 
organizing  the  company.  I  think  it  worth  while 
to  call  attention  here  to  the  fact  that  this  was  the 
>  first  so-called  "  Trust "  organized  in  this  country. 
Having  failed  to  raise  the  money  elsewhere,  I 
went  to  Boston,  and  there  succeeded  in  launching 
the  enterprise.  My  own  subscription  of  $150,000 
was  the  pint  of  water  that  started  the  great  wheel 
of  the  machinery.  I  give  here — for  it  is  a  matter 
of  historic  interest,  since  the  building  of  this  road 
marked  the  opening  of  a  new  era  in  the  United 
States — the  list  of  the  subscribers  who  were  my 
copartners  in  the  undertaking: 

Lombard  and  friends $100,000 

Oakes  and  Oliver  Ames 200,000 

Sidney  Dillon $100,000 

Cyrus  H.  McCormick 100,000 

Ben  Holliday 100,000 

JohnDuff 100.000         400,000 

Glidden  &  Williams 50,000 

Joseph  Nickerson 100,000 

Fred  Nickerson 50,000 

Baker  &  Morrill 50,000 

Samuel  Hooper  and  Dexter 50,000 

Price  Crowell 25,000 

Bard  well  and  Otis  Norcross 75.000         400,000 

Williams  &  Guion 50,000 

William  H.  Macy 25,000 

H.  S.  MeComb,  Wilmington,  Del 75,000 

George  Francis  Train,  through  Colonel  George 

T.  M.  Davis,  trustee  for  my  wife  and  children  150.000        300.000 

$1,400,000 
286 


Home  of  George    Francis  Train  from    1863   to  1869, 
No.   lo6  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 


BUILDING  THE   UNION  PACIFIC 


I  had  offered  an  interest  in  the  road  to  old  and 
well-established  merchants  of  New  York  and  other 
cities — the  Grays,  the  Goodhues,  the  Aspinwalls, 
the  Howlands,  the  Grinnells,  the  Marshalls,  and 
Davis,  Brooks  &  Company;  and  even  to  some 
of  the  new  men,  like  Henry  Clews — agreeing  to  put 
them  in  "  on  the  ground  floor,"  if  I  may  use  an 
expression  from  the  lesser  world  of  finance.  But 
they  were  afraid.  It  was  too  big.  Only  two  of 
them,  William  H.  Macy  and  William  H.  Guion, 
would  take  any  stock. 

There  was  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  in 
Gibson's  office  in  Wall  Street,  for  the  purpose  of 
electing  a  board  of  directors.  By  this  time  the 
importance  of  the  road  had  become  recognized, 
and  there  was  an  active  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  trunk  lines  leading  to  the  West  to  ob- 
tain control  of  the  charter.  They  had  their  repre- 
sentatives there,  and  I  saw  from  the  first  that  an 
attempt  would  be  made  to  capture  the  Union 
Pacific  Railway  as  a  trophy  of  one  of  these  power- 
ful Eastern  lines.  Fortunately,  as  I  perfectly 
well  knew,  they  were  not  quite  powerful  enough, 
in  the  circumstance,  even  with  a  united  front,  to 
accomplish  their  purposes. 

William  B.  Ogden  was  in  the  chair,  and  a  hasty 
calculation  convinced  me  that  probably  $200,000,000 
were  represented  by  the  men  gathered  in  the  little 
office.  Of  the  great  trunk  lines  represented  I  can 
recall  now  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  the  Pennsyl- 

287 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


vania,  and  the  New  York  Central.    It  was  from 
the  forces  of  the  last  that  the  lightning  came.   " 

As  soon  as  the  meeting  had  been  called  to 
order,  and  the  purpose  of  it  stated  by  the  chair,  a 
gentleman  arose  and  began  speaking  in  a  wheezy, 
squeaky  voice.  But  he  had  a  way  of  saying  what 
he  wanted,  and  of  saying  it  shrewdly,  adroitly, 
and  very  effectively.  I  could  see  that  he  was 
accustomed  to  win  in  the  Shakespearian  way — "  by 
indirections  find  directions  out."  He  said  that  as 
everything  was  ready  for  the  election  of  a  board, 
he  would  suggest  that  the  chair  should  appoint  a 
committee  of  five  which  should  then  name  a  board 
of  thirty  members.  I  saw  that  this  was  an  adroit 
move  to  put  one  of  these  big  roads  in  control  of 
the  committee  and,  of  course,  in  control  of  the 
Union  Pacific.  The  chair  immediately  named  five 
men,  three  of  whom  were  representatives  of  the 
New  York  Central. 

I  turned  to  a  gentleman  sitting  next  me  and 
asked  who  was  the  wheezy-voiced  man  who  had 
just  taken  his  seat.  "  That  is  Samuel  J.  Tilden," 
said  he. 

Matters  now  went  as  I  had  foreseen.  Of 
course,  the  three  New  York  Central  men  on  the 
committee  named  a  New  York  Central  board  of 
directors.  They  thought  they  had  quietly  and 
effectively  bagged  the  game.  But  I  held  in  my 
pocket  the  power  that  could  overturn  all  their 
schemes.    In  fact  I  had  offered  the  presidency  of 

288 


BUILDING  THE  UNION  PACIFIC 

the  road  to  Moses  Taylor,  founder  of  the  City 
National  Bank,  now  controlled  by  Mr.  Stillman, 
and  to  A.  A.  Low,  father  of  the  present  Mayor  of 
New  York.  But  both  had  laughed  at  me,  think- 
ing it  absurd  that  I  should  presume  to  have  so 
much  power.  I  then  made  up  my  own  list  of  ofiS- 
cers,  and  named  John  A.  Dix  as  president,  and 
John  J.  Cisco  as  treasurer.  Afterward  I  made 
a  short  speech,  in  which  I  said  that  I  held  the  con- 
trol of  the  road  in  my  hands. 

The  vote  was  called  for  by  the  chair,  and  out 
of  the  $2,000,000  of  stock  represented,  the  New 
York  Central  influence  cast  $300,000  and  I  the  vote 
of  $1,700,000.  This  completely  surprised  those 
present,  and  they  left  the  office  as  rats  fly  from  a 
sinking  ship.  I  was  indignant,  and  shouted: 
"  You  stand  on  the  corners  of  Wall  Street  again 
and  call  me  a  *  damned  Copperhead '  ;  but  don't 
forget  that  I  kicked  $200,000,000  worth  of  you 
into  the  street !  "  And  that  is  the  reason  why  they  "f 
called  me  "  crazy  " ! 

I  went  out  West  in  the  autumn  of  '63  to  break 
ground  for  the  first  mile  of  railway  track  west  of 
the  Missouri  river.  None  of  the  directors  was 
with  me;  I  was  entirely  alone.  I  made  a  speech 
at  Omaha  in  which  I  predicted  that  the  road  would 
be  completed  by  '70,  and  in  which  I  forecast  the 
great  development  of  Omaha  and  the  Northwest. 
This  speech  was  printed  all  over  the  world,  and  I  -1 
was  denounced  as  a  madman  and  a  visionary.    I 

289 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


>-. 


had,  every  one  said,  prophesied  the  impossible. 
And  yet  every  word  of  that  speech  was  true,  both 
as  to  its  facts  and  as  to  its  prophecies.  I  give 
here  a  few  extracts  from  it,  as  it  was  published  in 
the  Omaha  Republican,  December  3,  '63,  and  as 
it  has  been  republished  in  that  paper  and  others 
many  times  since: 

America  is  the  stage,  the  world  is  the  audience  of  to-day. 
While  one  act  of  the  drama  represents  the  booming  of  the  cannon 
on  the  Rapidan,  the  Cumberland,  and  the  Rio  Grande,  sounding 
the  death-knell  of  rebellious  war,  the  next  scene  records  the  boom- 
ing of  cannon  on  both  sides  of  the  Missouri  to  celebrate  the 
grandest  work  of  peace  that  ever  attracted  the  energies  of  man. 
The  great  Pacific  Railway  is  commenced,  and  if  you  knew  the  man 
who  has  hold  of  the  affair  as  well  as  I  do,  no  doubt  would  ever 
arise  as  to  its  speedy  completion.  The  President  shows  his  good 
judgment  in  locating  the  road  where  the  Almighty  placed  the 
signal  station,  at  the  entrance  of  a  garden  seven  hundred  miles  in 
length  and  twenty  broad. 

Before  the  first  century  of  the  nation's  birth,  we  may  see  in  the 
New  York  depot  some  strange  Pacific  railway  notice. 

^^  European  passengers  for  Japan  will  please  take  the  night  train. 

^  ^  Passengers  for  China  this  way. 

'^  African  and  Asiatic  freight  must  le  distinctly  marked:  For 
Peking  via  San  Francisco.'''' 

........ 

Immigration  will  soon  pour  into  these  valleys.  Ten  millions 
of  emigrants  will  settle  in  this  golden  land  in  twenty  years. 

I  had  predicted  that  the  railway  would  be  com- 
pleted in  70.  On  May  10,  '69,  the  "  golden  spike  " 
was  driven  at  Ogden,  Utah.  Among  the  papers 
throughout  the  world  that  had  ridiculed  me  as 
being  mad  or  visionary  because  of  my  speech  at 
Omaha  in  '63,  was  the  Hongkong  Press,  which  said 

290 


BUILDING  THE  UNION  PACIFIC 


that  it  was  generally  thought  in  China  during  my 
visit  there  in  '55-'56  that  I  was  a  little  "  off,"  and 
that  this  speech,  which  predicted  a  railway  across 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  clearly  proved  that  I  was 
both  visionary  and  mad.  On  my  journey  around 
the  world  in  70,  after  the  completion  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railway,  I  stepped  into  the  office  of  the 
Hongkong  paper  and  asked  for  the  editor.  When 
he  came  out,  I  asked  him  to  show  me  the  file  of  his 
paper  containing  my  Omaha  speech.  He  brought 
it  out,  and  we  turned  to  the  column.  "  Do  you 
know  Train?  "  he  asked  me.  "  Why,  I  am  Train," 
I  said,  "  and  it  seems  that  you  did  not  know  me  in 
Hongkong  in  '55-56.  I  have  just  come  through 
the  Rocky  Mountains  over  that  road." 

The  tremendous  importance  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railway  is  now  too  well  known  to  need  any 
further  comment  here  from  me.  It  is  enough  to 
say  that  it  was  through  my  suggestion  and  through  x 
my  plans  and  energy  that  this  mighty  highway 
across  the  continent,  breaking  up  the  old  trade 
routes  of  the  world,  and  turning  the  tide  of  com- 
merce from  its  ancient  eastern  tracks  across  the 
wide  expanse  of  the  American  continent,  was  cre- 
ated. 

Note. — Albert  D.  Richardson  in  his  once  famous  book  Beyond 
the  Mississippi,  writing  of  the  development  of  Omaha  and  the 
Northwest,  due  to  the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  says: 
"  Here  was  George  Francis  Train,  at  the  head  of  a  great  company 
called  the  Credit  Foncier,  organized  for  dealing  in  lands  and  stocks 
for  building  cities  along  the  railway  from  the  Missouri  to  Salt  Lake. 
This  corporation  had  been  clothed  by  the  Nebraska  legislature  with 

291 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

nearly  every  power  imaginable,  save  that  of  reconstructing  the  late 
rebel  States.  It  was  erecting  neat  cottages  in  Omaha  and  at  other 
points  west. 

"  Mr.  Train  owned  personally  about  five  hundred  acres  in  Omaha, 
which  cost  him  only  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  per  acre — 
a  most  promising  investment.  He  is  a  noticeable,  original  Ameri- 
can,  who  has  crowded  wonderful  and  varied  experiences  into  his 
Mshort  life.  An  orphan  boy,  employed  to  sweep  the  counting-room, 
he  rose  to  the  head  of  a  great  Boston  shipping  house ;  then  estab- 
lished a  branch  in  Liverpool;  next  organized  and  conducted  a 
heavy  commission  business  in  Australia,  and  astonished  his  neigh- 
bors in  that  era  of  fabulous  prices,  with  Brussels  carpets,  and  marble 
counters,  and  a  free  champagne  luncheon  daily  in  his  business  office. 
Afterward  he  made  the  circuit  of  the  world,  wrote  books  of  travel, 
fought  British  prejudices  against  street-railways,  occupying  his 
leisure  time  by  fiery  and  audacious  American  war  speeches  to  our 
island  cousins,  until  he  spent  a  fortune,  and  enjoyed  the  delights  of 
a  month  in  a  British  prison. 

"  Thence  he  returned  to  America;  lectured  everywhere ;  and  now 
he  is  trying  to  build  a  belt  of  cities  across  the  continent.  At  least  a 
magnificent  project.  Curiously  combining  keen  sagacity  with  wild 
^  enthusiasm,  a  man  who  might  have  built  the  pyramids,  or  been 
confined  in  a  strait-jacket  for  eccentricities,  according  to  the  age 
he  lived  in,  he  observes  dryly  that  since  he  began  to  make  money, 
people  no  longer  pronounce  him  crazy!  He  drinks  no  spirits,  uses 
no  tobacco,  talks  on  the  stump  like  an  embodied  Niagara,  composes 
songs  to  order  by  the  hour  as  fast  as  he  can  sing  them,  like  an  Italian 
improvisatore,  remembers  every  droll  story  from  Joe  Miller  to  Arte- 
mus  Ward,  is  a  born  actor,  is  intensely  in  earnest,  and  has  the  most 
absolute  and  outspoken  faith  in  himself  and  his  future." 

[At  the  time  Richardson  saw  me  at  Omaha,  in  '64,  another  noted 
journalist,  William  Hepworth  Dixon,  editor  of  the  London  Athe- 
naeum, called  on  me,  traveling  with  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  who  was  wri- 
ting Greater  Britain.     I  introduced  him  to  Richardson.— G.  F.  T.] 


292 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

THE   DEVELOPMENT  OP  THE   FAR  WEST 
1863-1870 

Very  much  of  my  work  that  has  aided  most  in 
the  development  of  this  country  was  done  in  the 
great  region  of  the  Northwest,  then  a  wild  country, 
trackless  and  uninhabited  except  by  savages.  Of 
course,  the  chief  achievement  in  the  West  was  the 
building  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  which  led 
up  to  the  inception  and  construction  of  other  rail- 
ways and  to  the  present  prosperity  of  the  entire 
section. 

But  this  enterprise  was  merely  a  beginning. 
I  looked  upon  it  only  as  the  launching  of  a  hun- 
dred other  projects,  which,  if  I  had  been  able  to 
carry  them  to  completion,  would  have  transformed 
the  West  in  a  few  years,  and  anticipated  its  pres- 
ent state  of  wealth  and  power  by  more  than  a  full 
generation.  One  of  my  plans  was  the  creation  of 
a  chain  of  great  towns  across  the  continent,  con- 
necting Boston  with  San  Francisco  by  a  magnifi- 
cent highway  of  cities.  That  this  was  not  an  idle 
dream  is  shown  by  the  rapid  growth  of  Chicago, 

293 


K 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

which  owes  its  greatness  to  its  situation  upon  this 
natural  highway  of  trade ;  and  to  the  development 
of  Omaha,  which  owes  its  prosperity  directly  to 
the  Union  Pacific  Railway  and  to  the  other  enter- 
prises that  I  organized  in  the  West.  Most  of 
these  plans  were  defeated  by  a  financial  panic,  by 
the  lack  of  cooperation  on  the  part  of  the  very  peo- 
ple who  were  most  interested  in  their  success,  and 
by  events  which  I  shall  describe  in  the  following 
chapters  of  this  book.  Some  of  them  succeeded, 
however,  and  I  was  able  to  accomplish  a  great 
deal  of  work  that  has  gone  into  the  winning  and 
making  of  the  West. 

When  I  went  out  to  Omaha  to  break  ground  for 
the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  on  December  3,  '63, 
there  was  only  one  hotel  in  that  town.  This  was  the 
Herndon  House,  a  respectable  affair,  now  U.  P. 
headquarters.  I  was  astonished  that  men  of  en- 
ergy, enterprise,  and  means  had  not  seized  the  op- 
portunity to  erect  a  large  hotel  at  this  point,  which 
had  already  given  every  promise  of  rapid  and  im- 
mediate growth.  But  what  directly  suggested  to 
me  the  building  of  such  a  hotel  on  my  own  account 
was  a  little  incident  that  occurred  at  a  breakfast 
that  I  happened  to  be  giving  in  the  Herndon 
House. 

I  had  invited  a  number  of  prominent  men — 
Representatives  in  Congress,  and  others — to  take 
breakfast  with  me  in  this  house,  as  I  desired  to 
present  to  them  some  of  my  plans.    The  break- 

294 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FAR  WEST 

fast  was  a  characteristic  Western  meal,  with  prai- 
rie chickens  and  Nebraska  trout.  While  we  were 
seated,  one  of  those  sudden  and  always  unex- 
pected cyclones  on  the  plains  came  up,  and  the 
hotel  shook  like  a  leaf  in  the  terrible  storm.  Our 
table  was  very  near  a  window  in  which  were  large 
panes  of  glass,  which  I  feared  could  not  withstand 
the  tremendous  force  of  the  wind.  They  were  quiv- 
ering under  the  stress  of  weather,  and  I  called  to 
a  strapping  negro  waiter  at  our  table  to  stand 
with  his  broad  back  against  the  window.  This 
proved  a  security  against  the  storm  without;  but  "t 
it  precipitated  a  storm  within. 

Allen,  the  manager  of  the  Hemdon,  and  a  man 
with  a  political  turn  of  mind,  saw  in  the  incident 
an  assault  on  the  rights  of  the  negroes.  He  hur- 
ried over  to  the  table  and  protested  against  this 
act  as  an  outrage.  I  could  not  afford  to  enter  into 
a  quarrel  with  him  at  the  time,  so  I  merely  said: 
"  I  am  about  the  size  of  the  negro ;  I  will  take  his 
place."  I  then  ordered  the  fellow  away  from  the 
window,  took  his  post,  and  stayed  there  until  the 
fury  of  the  storm  abated.  Then  I  was  ready  for 
Allen. 

I  walked  out  in  front  of  the  house  and,  point- 
ing to  a  large  vacant  square  facing  it,  asked  who 
owned  it.  I  was  told  the  owner's  name  and  imme- 
diately sent  a  messenger  for  him  post-haste.  He 
arrived  in  a  short  time,  and  I  asked  his  price.  It 
was  $5,000.    I  wrote  out  and  handed  him  a  check 

295 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

for  the  amount,  and  took  from  him,  on  the  spot,  a 
deed  for  the  property. 

Then  I  asked  for  a  contractor  who  could 
build  a  hotel.  A  man  named  Richmond  was 
brought  to  me.  "  Can  you  build  a  three-story 
hotel  in  sixty  days  on  this  plot? "  asked  I.  After 
some  hesitation  he  said  it  would  be  merely  a  ques- 
tion of  money.  "How  much?"  I  asked.  "One 
thousand  dollars  a  day."  "  Show  me  that  you  are 
responsible  for  $60,000."  He  did  so,  and  I  took 
out  an  envelope  and  sketched  on  the  back  of  it  a 
rough  plan  of  the  hotel.  "  I  am  going  to  the  moun- 
tains," I  said,  "  and  I  shall  want  this  hotel,  with 
120  rooms,  complete,  when  I  return  in  sixty  days." 

When  I  got  back,  the  hotel  was  finished.  I  im- 
1^  mediately  rented  it  to  Cozzens,  of  West  Point, 
New  York,  for  $10,000  a  year.  This  is  the  famous 
Cozzens's  Hotel  of  Omaha,  which  has  been  more 
written  about,  I  suppose,  than  almost  any  other 
hostelry  ever  built  in  the  United  States.  It  is  the 
show-place  of  Omaha  to  this  day. 

The  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway 
in  '69  was  the  occasion  of  my  visit  to  California 
and  Oregon.  In  San  Francisco  I  gave  a  banquet 
to  men  prominent  in  finance  and  politics,  and  took 
occasion  to  refer  to  the  efforts  that  had  been  made 
there,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  to  aid  the  seceding 
States.  I  was  making  a  response  to  the  toast  of 
"  The  Union,"  and  had  said  that  if  I  had  been  the 
Federal  general  in  command  in  California  at  the 

296 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FAR  WEST 

time,  I  should  have  hanged  certain  men,  some  of 
whom  were  present.  This  was  pretty  hot  shot, 
and  I  did  not  wonder  at  the  resentment  of  the  men 
to  whom  I  referred.  I  was  astonished,  however, 
by  the  terrific  scoring  I  received  from  the  city 
press  the  following  morning.  I  read  the  reports 
of,  and  the  comments  on,  my  speech  as  I  was  mak- 
ing preparations  to  have  my  special  car  taken  back 
East  that  afternoon.  I  was  very  indignant,  but 
did  not  know  exactly  what  to  do. 

Just  at  this  moment  a  man  approached  me  and 
said  that  he  would  like  to  have  me  deliver  a  lec- 
ture that  evening  in  the  theater.  He  was  the 
manager,  Mr.  Poole.  I  saw  my  opportunity,  and 
accepted,  refusing,  however,  his  proffer  of  $500 
in  gold,  and  agreeing  to  take  one-half  the  gross 
receipts  for  a  series  of  lectures.  I  delivered 
twenty-eight  lectures  to  crowded  houses,  and  took 
in,  for  my  share,  $10,000  in  gold.  I  did  not  spare 
my  critics,  but  flayed  them  alive. 

My  lectures  made  me  the  most  conspicuous 
man  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  I  received  despatches 
of  congratulations,  or  invitations  to  deliver  lec- 
tures and  speeches,  almost  every  hour  of  the  day. 
I  accepted  a  five-hundred-dollar  check  to  go  to 
Portland,  Oregon,  to  make  the  Fourth-of-July 
oration,  and  the  Gussie  Tellefair  was  sent  to 
meet  me  and  take  me  up  the  Columbia  in  state. 
The  oration  was  delivered  to  a  big  audience  of 
Oregonians,    trappers    and    mountaineers,    some 

297 


\ 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


of  them  wearing  the  quaintest  garb  I  had  ever 
seen. 

I  mention  this  visit  to  Portland  because  it 
afforded  me  opportunity  for  doing  several  things 
of  importance.  I  visited  the  famous  Dalles  of  the 
Columbia  river,  and  while  there  saw  the  Indians 
spearing  salmon.  I  asked  what  they  were  doing, 
and  was  told  that  they  were  laying  in  their  sup- 
ply for  the  winter.  I  went  to  the  place  where  the 
braves  were  spearing  the  fish  and  asked  one  of 
them  to  let  me  try  my  hand  at  the  fish-spear. 
Having  accustomed  myself  a  little  to  throwing  the 
harpoon,  I  found  that  I  could  manage  the  Indian's 
weapon  quite  skilfully,  and  succeeded  in  landing 
200  salmon  in  two  hours.  Of  course  the  fish  were 
running  in  swarms,  but  this  two  hours'  work  would 
have  brought  me  $1,000  if  I  could  have  taken  the 
catch  to  New  York. 

I  was  the  first  white  man,  I  believe,  that  had 
taken  salmon  out  of  the  Columbia,  and  it  then  oc- 
curred to  me,  if  the  Indians  could  lay  up  a  supply 
of  fish  for  the  winter,  why  could  not  white  men  do 
the  same  thing?  I  thereupon  suggested  the  can- 
r-  ning  of  salmon,  which  has  since  been  developed 
into  so  large  an  industry  and  has  made  the  Quinnat 
salmon  the  king-fish  of  the  world,  putting  Columbia 
salmon  into  almost  every  household  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

Another    fact    may    be    recorded    here.    My 
Fourth-of-July  oration  had  been  such  a  success 

298 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FAR  WEST 


that  I  was  asked  to  make  another  speech  at  Seat- 
tle, on  Puget  Sound,  which  was  then  a  struggling 
village.  I  was  accompanying  a  delegation  or 
committee  from  the  East  that  was  looking  for  a 
good  place  for  the  terminus  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railway,  which  had  been  projected  after 
the  great  success  of  the  Union  Pacific.  When  we 
passed  the  point  where  Tacoma  now  stands,  I  was 
attracted  by  its  appearance  and  said :  "  There  is 
your  terminus."  The  committee  selected  the  spot,  y 
and  Tacoma  was  founded  there. 

An  amusing  incident  closed  this  part  of  my 
journey.  I  went  from  Seattle  to  Victoria,  British 
Columbia,  and  was  astonished  to  find  the  town 
in  the  wildest  commotion.  Troops  were  at  the 
docks,  and  the  moment  I  landed  I  observed  that 
the  greatest  interest  was  taken  in  me.  At  last, 
as  they  saw  me  walking  about  alone,  one  of  the 
officials  came  up  and  said:  "  Why,  are  you  alone?  " 
"  Of  course,"  I  replied.  "  Did  you  expect  me  to 
bring  an  army  with  me?  "  I  said  this  in  jest,  not 
knowing  how  closely  it  touched  his  question.  He 
then  took  me  aside  and  said,  "  Read  this  despatch." 
I  opened  the  despatch  and  read :  "  Train  is  on  the 
Hunt." 

I  saw  what  it  meant,  and  how  the  good  people 
had  been  deceived.  The  Hunt  was  the  vessel 
I  came  on,  and  the  telegraph  operator  at  Seattle, 
knowing  that  I  had  been  with  the  Fenians  and  had 
been  stirring  up  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in  Cali- 
21  299 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

fornia,  tliouglit  he  would  have  some  fun  with  the 
Canadians.  The  people  of  Victoria  were  on  the 
lookout  for  me  to  arrive  with  a  gang  of  Fenians ! 
I  did  not  smile,  but  determined  to  carry  the 
joke  a  little  further.  Walking  into  the  telegraph 
office,  I  filed  the  following  cablegram  for  Dublin, 
Ireland.  "  Down  England,  up  Ireland."  The 
jest  cost  me  $40  in  tolls,  but  I  enjoyed  it  that 
much. 


300 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE     SHARE     I     HAD     IN    THE     FRENCH     COMMUNE 

1870 

My  participation  in  the  Commune  in  France,  in 
the  year  '70,  was  the  result  of  chance.  I  arrived 
at  Marseilles  at  a  very  critical  time  in  the  history 
of  that  city.  It  was  the  hour  when  the  Commune, 
or,  as  it  was  styled  there  by  many,  the  "  Red  Re- 
public," was  born.  I  was  on  a  tour  of  the  world, 
the  voyage  in  which  I  eclipsed  all  former  feats 
of  travel,  and  circled  the  globe  in  eighty  days. 
This  served  Jules  Verne,  two  years  later,  as  the 
groundwork  for  his  famous  romance  Around  the 
World  in  Eighty  Days.  The  whole  journey  had 
been  eventful,  but  I  shall  write  of  that  in  a  later 
chapter. 

The  French  Empire  had  fallen  and  the  Repub- 
lic had  risen  within  the  period  of  my  swift  flight ; 
and  now  one  of  the  darkest  and  most  desperate  en- 
terprises known  in  history  was  afoot — the  attempt 
to  transform  France  and  the  world  into  a  system 
of  "  communes,"  erected  upon  the  ruins  of  all  na- 
tional governments. 

301 


MY  LIFE   IN   MANY   STATES 

I  arrived  at  Marseilles  on  the  Donai,  of  the  Im- 
perial Messagerie  line,  October  20,  '70,  and  went 
at  once  to  the  Grand  Hotel  de  Louvre.  Imagine 
my  astonishment  when  I  was  received  there  by  a 
^  delegation,  and,  for  the  third  time,  hailed  as 
"  liberator."  The  empty  title  of  liberator — so 
easily  conferred  by  the  excitable  Latin  races — 
had  become  rather  a  joke  with  me.  The  Austral- 
ian revolutionists  who  wanted  to  make  me  Pres- 
ident of  their  paper  republic,  were  in  earnest,  and 
would  have  done  something  notable,  had  they  ever 
got  the  opportunity,  with  sufficient  men  behind 
them;  but  the  Italians  I  had  not  felt  much  confi- 
S  dence  in,  nor  had  I  any  desire  to  work  for 
their  cause. 

The  acclaim  with  which  the  people  in  the 
streets  of  Marseilles  received  me,  at  first  jarred 
upon  my  sensibilities  and  seemed  an  echo  merely 
of  the  little  affair  in  Rome.  However,  I  was  soon 
to  be  convinced  of  the  deep  sincerity  of  these  revo- 
lutionists, and  was  destined  to  take  an  active 
and  honest  part  in  their  cause.  It  is  remarkable 
how  a  slight  incident  may  turn  the  whole  cur- 
rent of  one's  life.  It  had  been  my  intention  to 
proceed  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  Berlin,  and 
take  a  look  at  the  victorious  Prussian  army; 
but  here  I  was  at  the  very  moment  of  my  ar- 
rival on  French  soil,  involved  in  the  problems 
and  struggles  of  the  French  people,  as  pre- 
cipitated by  the  Prussian  army,  having  for  their 

302 


MY  SHAKE  IN  THE  FRENCH  COMMUNE 

object  the  undoing  of  much  of  the  work  of  the 
German  conquest. 

When  the  revolutionary  committee  hailed  me 
as  "  liberator,"  I  thought  they  had  mistaken  me 
for  some  one  else,  and  asked  the  leaders  if  they 
had  not  done  so.  "  No,"  they  said ;  "  we  have 
heard  of  you  and  want  you  to  join  the  revolu- 
tion." It  seemed  that  they  had  kept  track  of 
my  rapid  progress  around  the  world,  and  told 
me  they  knew  when  I  was  at  Port  Said,  and  had 
prepared  to  receive  me  as  soon  as  I  landed  in 
Marseilles. 

"  Six  thousand  people  are  waiting  for  you  now 
in  the  opera-house,"  they  said. 

"  Waiting  for  me  ? "  I  asked,  incredulous. 
"  How  long  have  they  been  waiting,  and  what  are 
they  waiting  for? " 

"  They  have  been  assembled  for  an  hour;  and 
they  want  you  to  address  them  in  behalf  of  the 
revolution." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  making  a  decision  immedi- 
ately, "  I  can  not  keep  these  good  people  wait- 
ing. I  will  go  with  you."  I  had  decided  to 
trust  to  the  inspiration  of  the  moment,  when  I 
should  stand  face  to  face  with  that  volatile 
French  audience. 

From  the  moment  I  entered  the  opera-house, 
packed  with  excited  people  from  t^^-stage  to  the 
topmost  boxes,  I  was  possessed  by  the  Fr^Tieh 
revolutionary   spirit.     The   fire   and   enthusiasm 

303 


MY  LIFE   IN  MAISTY  STATES 


of  the  people  swept  me  from  my  feet.  I  was 
thenceforth  a  "  Communist,"  a  member  of  their 
"  Red  Republic."  I  felt  this,  as  soon  as  I  joined 
that  cheering  and  ecstatic  mob — for  it  really  was 
a  mob  then,  and  mobs  have  been  the  germs  of  all 
great  national  movements  in  France. 

A  committee  of  some  sort,  prepared  for  the  oc- 
casion, immediately  seized  hold  of  me,  and  we 
marched,  or  rushed,  through  the  crowd,  down  the 
aisle,  and  up  on  the  stage.  About  250  persons, 
the  more  important  movers  in  the  agitation,  I 
suppose,  were  standing,  all  cheering  at  the  top 
of  their  voices.  As  I  was  placed  upon  the  stage, 
in  front  of  the  audience,  there  came  a  burst  of 
cheers  of  "  Vive  la  Republique !  "  "  Vive  la  Com- 
mune !  "  and  many  were  shouting  out  my  name 
with  a  French  accent  and  a  nasal  "n."  It  was 
irresistible.  I  stepped  to  the  front  of  the  stage 
and  tried  to  speak,  but  for  several  minutes  could 
not  utter  a  word  that  could  be  heard  a  foot  away, 
the  din  of  the  shouting  and  cheering  was  so  over- 
whelming. 

When  the  shouting  ceased,  I  told  the  people 
that  I  was  in  Marseilles  on  a  trip  around  the  world, 
but  as  they  had  called  upon  me  to  take  part  in 
their  movement,  I  should  be  glad  to  repay,  in  my 
own  behalf,  a  small  portion  of  the  enormous  debt 
of  gratitude  that  my  country  owed  to  France  for 
Lafayette,  Rochambeau,  and  de  Grasse.  I  re- 
peated a  part  of  the  "  Marseillaise,"  which  always 

304: 


MY  SHAKE  IN  THE  FRENCH  COMMUNE 


stirs  Frenchmen  to  the  depths,  and  a  few  verses 
from  Holmes's  poem  on  France — 

"  Pluck  Condi's  baton  from  the  trench, 
Wake  up  stout  Charles  Martel; 
Or  give  some  woman's  hand  to  clench 
The  sword  of  La  Pucellc!" 

I  also  urged  that  France  should  not  yield  an 
inch  of  her  territory  to  the  rapacious  Prussians. 

The  excitement  of  the  hour  carried  everything 
before  it,  and  the  crowd  outside,  numbering  at 
least  20,000,  finally  was  joined  by  the  6,000  inside, 
and  the  whole  mass,  making  a  grand  and  noisy 
procession,  escorted  me  to  my  hotel  where  I  had 
taken  the  entire  front  suite  of  apartments.  The 
next  morning  I  was  waited  upon  by  a  committee 
of  the  revolutionists.  They  said  they  wanted  a 
militaiy  leader,  and  that  Cluseret  was  the  man  for 
the  place.  He  would  be  able  to  lead  the  forces  of 
the  Ligue  du  Midi. 

Cluseret  was  then  in  Switzerland,  where  he 
had  taken  refuge  after  the  troops  drove  him  out 
of  Lyons  at  the  orders  of  Gambetta.  He  was  the 
Gustave  Paul  Cluseret  who  had  taken  part  in  our 
Civil  War,  serving  on  the  staffs  of  McClellan  and 
Fremont,  and  who  later  was  Military  Chief  of 
the  Paris  Commune.  We  sent  to  Switzerland  and 
invited  General  Cluseret  to  join  us  in  Marseilles. 
To  our  surprise  he  sent  word  that  he  would  need 
a  force  of  2,000  armed  men!  This  settled  Clu- 
seret, as  far  as  I  was  concerned. 

305 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY   STATES 

A  few  days  later  a  card  was  brought  to  me 
in  the  hotel  bearing  the  name  "  Tirez,"  and  the 
statement  that  M.  Tirez  occupied  room  113  in  the 
same  hotel.  I  went  up  to  this  room,  and  there 
found  a  splendid-looking  fellow  with  a  great  mili- 
tary mustache.  "  Are  you  M.  Tirez  ?  "  I  asked. 
"  I  am  General  Cluseret,"  he  said.  "  I  thought 
you  wanted  2,000  armed  men?"  I  said.  "You 
can  probably  give  me  more  than  that  number,"  he 
said,  with  a  smile.  "  You  seem  to  be  in  command 
of  everything  and  everybody  here."  "We  shall 
see,"  I  said.  I  asked  him  to  go  to  the  Cirque  with 
me  that  evening. 

There  were  at  least  10,000  men  in  this  gigantic 
amphitheater.  I  made  a  short  speech  and  said  I 
wanted  to  give  them  a  surprise.  "  You  want  a 
military  leader.  I  have  brought  you  one.  Here 
is  your  leader — General  Gustave  Paul  Cluseret." 
He  was  greeted  with  tremendous  cheers. 

We  at  once  organized  military  headquarters 
and  prepared  to  take  possession  of  the  city.  In 
this  effort  we  were  aided  by  the  liberal  views  of  the 
pr^fet,  M.  Esquiros,  a  republican,  and  later  by 
the  incapacity  of  the  new  prefet  appointed  by 
Gambetta,  M.  Gent.  The  next  day  we  marched 
to  the  military  fortifications  with  a  great  mass  of 
men.  General  Cluseret  and  I  were  arm  in  arm 
as  we  entered  the  gates.  I  observed  the  officer  in 
charge  of  the  guns  at  the  entrance  about  to  give 
an  order,  which  I  knew  meant  a  volley  that  would 

306 


MY  SHAKE  IN  THE  FRENCH  COMMUNE 


sweep  us  into  the  next  world.  I  sprang  forward 
and  seized  the  officer  by  the  arm.  "  Come  to  see 
me  at  the  hotel,"  I  whispered  in  his  ear.  The 
order  to  fire  was  not  given,  and  we  filed  into  the 
fortifications  and  took  possession  in  the  name  of 
the  Commune — the  "  Red  Republic." 

The  following  day  150  of  the  Guarde  Mobile 
came  to  the  hotel  and  demanded  General  Cluseret. 
I  told  the  officers  he  was  not  present,  but  they  in- 
sisted upon  invading  my  rooms.  I  then  told  them 
that  they  would  not  be  permitted  to  cross  the 
threshold  alive.  I  was  armed  with  a  revolver,  and 
three  of  my  own  secretaries  were  armed  in  the 
same  way.  I  said  to  the  chief  officer  at  the  door 
that  there  were  four  men  inside  and  we  would  shoot 
any  one  who  tried  to  enter;  we  thought  we  could 
kill  at  least  two  dozen  of  them.  The  Guarde  held 
a  short  council  outside,  and  I  soon  heard  their 
military  step  resounding  down  the  hall.  They 
had  given  up  the  search  for  Cluseret. 

The  next  morning  I  saw  from  my  window  an 
army  marching  down  the  street.  I  thought  it  was 
our  army,  and  went  out  on  the  balcony  and  began 
shouting  "  Vive  la  Republique !  "  and  "  Vive  la 
Commune ! "  with  the  people  in  the  street ;  but 
there  was  an  ominous  silence  in  the  ranks  of  the 
troops.  They  did  not  respond  to  these  revolu- 
tionary sentiments.  Then  I  saw  the  new  pr^fet, 
M.  Gent,  Gambetta's  man,  in  a  carriage,  with 
the  army.     Suddenly  I  heard  a  shot,  and  Gent 

307 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


dropped  to  the  bottom  of  the  vehicle.  Some  one 
had  tried  to  kill  him,  but  missed,  and  the  prefet 
did  not  care  to  be  conspicuous  again. 

The  troops  came  to  a  halt  directly  in  front  of 
the  hotel,  and  I  saw  that  the  officers  were  regard- 
ing with  anger  the  flag  of  the  Commune  that 
floated  from  the  balcony.  Orders  were  given, 
and  five  men,  a  firing  squad,  stepped  from  the 
ranks  and  knelt,  with  their  rifles  in  hand,  ready  to 
fire.  I  knew  that  it  was  their  purpose  to  shoot 
me.  I  do  not  know  why,  but  I  felt  that  if  the  thing 
had  to  be,  I  should  die  in  the  most  dramatic  man- 
ner possible.  There  were  two  other  flags  on  the 
balcony,  the  colors  of  France  and  America.  I 
seized  both  of  these,  and  wrapped  them  quickly 
about  my  body.  Then  I  stepped  forward,  and 
knelt  at  the  front  of  the  balcony,  in  the  same  mili- 
tary posture  as  the  soldiers  below  me.  I  then 
shouted  to  the  officers  in  French : 

"  Fire,  fire,  you  miserable  cowards !  Fire 
upon  the  flags  of  France  and  America  wrapped 
around  the  body  of  an  American  citizen — if  you 
have  the  courage !  " 

•  An  order  was  spoken,  too  low  for  me  to  catch, 
but  the  kneeling  soldiers  dropped  their  rifles,  and 
then  rose,  and  rejoined  the  ranks.  Another  order 
was  shouted  along  the  line,  and  the  troops  marched 
on  down  the  street  and  out  of  sight. 

The  attempted  assassination  of  the  prefet  had 
an    unexpected    effect    upon    public    opinion    in 

308 


MY  SHARE  IN  THE  FRENCH  COMMUNE 

Marseilles.  It  turned  the  mercurial  Frenchman 
against  the  Commune.  I  advised  General  Clu- 
seret  to  go  at  once  to  Paris.  I  even  purchased  a 
gold- laced  uniform  for  him.  His  subsequent  his- 
tory, as  military  leader  of  the  Commune  in  Paris, 
his  capture,  trial,  release,  and  retirement  to  Swit- 
zerland, are  well  known. 

At  this  time  I  believe  the  tide  of  war  might 
have  been  turned  in  favor  of  France  by  some  swift 
movement  like  those  of  which  the  mobile  Boers 
made  good  use  in  South  Africa,  perhaps  by  an  at- 
tack on  the  rear  of  the  German  armies.  France 
was  filled  with  German  soldiers,  but  Germany  was 
unguarded;  and  I  believed  then  that  a  body  of 
light  horsemen,  say,  like  the  Algerians,  might  have 
created  such  a  diversion  by  a  rapid  raid  to  the  rear 
that  it  would  have  forced  the  Germans  back  to  the 
Rhine,  or  even  to  Berlin.  I  was  astonished  by 
the  tremendous  amount  of  munitions  of  war,  and 
by  the  masses  of  troops  that  were  still  available 
in  the  south  of  France.  Leadership,  and  not 
troops,  was  what  France  lacked. 

I  left  Marseilles  for  Lyons,  after  the  troops 
tried  to  shoot  me  in  the  balcony  of  the  hotel,  and 
was  accompanied  by  Cremieux,  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Ligue  du  Midi.  As  we  left  Marseilles,  a 
man,  wearing  conspicuously  the  ribbon  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  entered  our  compartment.  I  at 
once  set  him  down  as  a  spy,  and  began  talking 
with  Cremieux  in  a  loud  voice.     !My  estimate  of 

309 


MY  LIFE   IN   MANY  STATES 


his  character  was  justified  in  an  unpleasant  way 
at  Lyons.  No  sooner  had  we  entered  the  suburbs 
of  that  city  than  our  friend  left  the  compartment 
and  got  off  the  train. 

When  the  train  came  to  a  stop  in  the  station, 
I  sprang  out  of  the  compartment  with  Cremieux, 
and  was  confronted  by  six  bayonets.  Both  of  us 
were  placed  under  arrest.  Immediately  I  remem- 
bered the  little  slip  of  paper  in  my  pocket  which 
might  betray  Cluseret,  if  found,  and  I  seized  it 
hastily  and  put  it  into  my  mouth.  The  officer  of 
the  squad  of  soldiers  rushed  forward  to  stop  me, 
but  it  was  too  late.  The  slip  had  gone.  I  had 
swallowed  it. 

"That  was  the  address  of  General  Cluseret!" 
shouted  the  officer. 

"  Of  course,"  said  I.  "  And  it  has  gone  to  a 
rendezvous  with  my  breakfast !  " 

The  soldiers  took  Cremieux  and  myself  to  the 
Bastile,  in  Lyons,  and  I  was  detained  there  for 
thirteen  days.  When  I  went  into  the  cell  I  was 
very  tired  and  sat  up  against  the  wall  and  leaned 
my  head  against  it.  In  a  moment  I  detected  the 
breathing  of  a  man  very  near  me,  and  perceived 
a  crack  in  the  wall,  against  which  a  spy  in  the  ad- 
jacent cell  was  inclining  his  ear  to  catch  any  in- 
criminating words  that  might  pass  between  Cre- 
mieux and  myself.  It  was  the  old  trick  of  the  In- 
quisition; but  it  did  not  serve  the  purposes  of 
these  late  players  of  it. 

310 


MY  SHARE  IN  THE  FRENCH  COMMUNE 

My  secretary,  Mr.  Bemis,  who  came  on  from 
Marseilles  by  a  later  train,  could  not  find  me  in 
Lyons.  He  spent  a  week  in  looking  for  me.  At 
the  end  of  that  time  my  wife,  who  was  in  New 
York,  telegraphed  to  the  American  legation  at  \ 
Paris  asking  if  the  report  were  true  that  I  had 
been  killed.  It  had  been  currently  reported  in 
America  that  the  soldiers  had  shot  me  in  Mar- 
seilles. Mr.  Bemis  went  immediately  to  the  Guarde 
Mobile,  which  was  in  sympathy  with  the  Com- 
mune, the  organization  from  which  General  Clu- 
seret  had  been  driven  by  Gambetta.  The  Guarde 
sent  a  deputation  of  150  officers  to  the  prdfet 
of  the  city,  who  ordered  my  immediate  release. 
Gambetta  was  appealed  to,  and  he  directed  that  I 
be  sent  to  him  at  Tours  by  special  train. 

To  Tours  I  went  in  style.  I  had  been  poisoned 
in  the  Lyons  Bastile,  and  was  ill,  in  consequence, 
having  lost  thirty  pounds  of  flesh  in  thirteen  days. 
I  was  met  at  Tours  by  Gambetta's  secretary,  M. 
Ranc,  afterward  a  deputy,  who  told  me  I  could 
see  the  Dictator  at  four  o'clock.  "  Why  not  now?  " 
I  asked.  "  Because  it  is  not  possible  for  M.  Gam- 
betta to  work  until  he  has  had  his  dinner."  I 
found  that  these  French  officials  were  as  fond 
of  their  dinner  as  English  officials.  At  the  ap- 
pointed hour  M.  Ranc  took  me  to  the  palace  of 
the  prefecture,  and  I  was  admitted  at  once  to  Gam- 
betta's presence. 

I  found  everything  in  confusion.     The  prefec- 

311 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


ture  was  filled  with  men  who  had  been  waiting  for 
the  Dictator's  pleasure.  In  the  first  ante-rooms  I 
saw  men  who  had  been  waiting  for  three  weeks; 
in  the  next  rooms  were  those  who  had  waited  for 
two  weeks ;  and  in  the  third  rooms  I  found  officers 
of  the  army  and  navy,  who  had  waited  one  week. 
As  I  passed  in  among  these  throngs  with  an  air 
of  self-possession,  they  took  me  for  some  grand 
personage,  and  I  heard  whispers  that  I  must  be 
the  ambassador  from  Spain  or  the  Papal  Nuncio. 

Gambetta  was  seated  at  his  desk  in  a  large  and 
handsomely  furnished  room.  He  made  not  the 
slightest  sign  of  being  aware  that  I  was  present. 
He  did  not  even  turn  his  face  toward  me.  I  did 
not  learn  until  afterward  that  the  distinguished 
Italian-Frenchman  had  one  glass  eye,  and  could 
see  me  just  as  well  at  an  angle  as  he  could  full- 
face.  But  I  grew  tired  of  standing  there  si- 
lent, and  was  already  weary  from  my  long  incar- 
ceration. I  decided,  after  taking  in  this  strange 
character,  then  at  the  top  of  the  seething  pot  of 
French  politics,  that  the  best  course  for  me  was 
to  put  on  a  bold  front. 

"  When  a  distinguished  stranger  calls  to  see 
you,  M.  Gambetta,  I  think  you  might  offer  him  a 
chair." 

The  great  man  smiled,  and  motioned  me  to  a 
seat  with  considerable  graciousness.  I  took  a 
chair,  and  said  : 

"M.  Gambetta,  you  are  the  head  of  France, 

312 


MY  SHARE  IN  THE  FRENCH  COMMUNE 

and  I  intend  to  be  President  of  the  United  States. 
You  can  assist  me,  and  I  can  assist  you." 

He  looked  at  me  with  a  curious  regard,  but  did 
not  smile. 

"  Send  me  to  America,  and  I  can  help  you  get 
munitions  of  war,  and  win  over  the  sympathy  and 
assistance  of  the  Americans." 

I  knew,  of  course,  that  he  was  going  to  send 
me  out  of  France  in  any  event,  and  I  wanted  to 
discount  his  plan. 

The  Dictator  smiled  again,  and  said:  "You 
sent  Cluseret  to  Paris,  and  bought  him  a  uniform 
for  300  francs." 

"  You  are  only  fairly  well  informed,  M.  Gam- 
betta.    I  paid  350  francs  for  the  uniform." 

"  Cluseret  is  a  scoundrel,"  he  said. 

"  The  Communards  call  you  that,"  I  replied. 

He  ended  our  interview  by  saying  a  few  pleas- 
ant words,  bowing  me  out  of  the  room,  and  send- 
ing me  out  of  France  forthwith. 

I  went  straight  to  London,  then  to  Liverpool, 
and  sailed  for  New  York  in  the  Abyssinia,  which, 
curiously  enough,  was  afterward  the  pioneer  ship 
on  the  line  of  boats  between  Vancouver  and  Yoko- 
hama, it  having  been  bought  by  the  Canadian 
Pacific. 


313 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

A  CANDIDATE   FOR  PRESIDENT 

1872 

I  HAVE  passed  a  great  many  days  in  jail.  A  jail 
is  a  good  place  to  meditate  and  to  plan  in,  if  only 
one  can  be  patient  in  such  a  place.  Much  of  my 
work  was  thought  out  and  wrought  out  while  living 
in  the  fifteen  jails  of  which  I  have  been  a  tenant. 
It  was  in  a  jail  in  Dublin,  called  the  Four  Courts' 
Marshalsea,  that  a  feeling  of  confidence  that  I 
might  one  day  be  President  of  the  United  States 
first  came  into  definite  form.  It  was  in  this  prison, 
also,  that  I  planned  Train  Villa,  which  was  to  be 
built  in  Newport.  As  my  life  in  that  Villa,  which 
in  its  day  was  one  of  the  most  famous  and  luxuri- 
ous in  America,  was  a  sort  of  prelude  to  my 
campaign  for  the  Presidency,  I  may  fitly  say  here 
what  I  have  to  say  about  it  in  this  book. 

I  had  long  wanted  a  handsome  residence  by  the 
sea,  and  so,  when  I  had  nearly  completed  the  work 
done  in  connection  with  the  Union  Pacific  Railway, 
and  there  seemed  to  be  ahead  of  me  a  period  of 
comparative  leisure,  I  projected  this  house.    My 

314 


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to 

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03 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  PRESIDENT 

plans  were  made  before  I  was  in  the  Dublin  jail. 
My  wife  built  the  Villa,  or  began  work  on  it,  while  I 
was  still  in  the  Marshalsea.  The  lot  on  which  it 
stands  embraced  some  two  and  a  half  acres  in  the 
most  delightful  region  of  Newport.  In  order  that 
my  boys  might  have  an  opportunity  for  sport  at 
home,  I  had  a  building  put  up  for  billiards  and 
bowling.  This  was,  I  believe,  the  j&rst  residence 
in  Newport  that  had  a  special  place  of  this  kind, 
although  of  course,  many  had  billiard  tables.  A 
fine  cottage  was  also  built  for  my  father-in-law, 
Colonel  George  T.  M.  Davis.  This  cottage  was 
sold  recently  for  $50,000,  to  the  Dolans  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

The  Villa  itself  must  have  cost  $100,000,  but 
the  truth  is,  I  have  never  known  how  much  money 
was  lavished  upon  its  building  and  adornment.  I 
was  called  rich  and  had  never,  at  any  time,  given  a 
thought  to  the  mere  details  of  money.  What  I 
wanted  I  got.  In  those  days  that  was  the  sub-  X 
stance  of  my  economic  system  in  personal  matters. 
We  lived  there  in  manorial  style,  entertaining  so 
lavishly  and  freely  that  the  Villa  became  a  free 
guest-house  for  all  Newport.  I  also  recollect  that 
my  living  cost  me  more  than  $2,000  a  week.  Now  I  )^ 
manage  to  live  on  $3  a  week  in  the  Mills  Hotel,  or 
Palace,  as  I  call  it.  Here  I  am  more  contented  A 
than  I  was  at  Newport.  I  seem  to  be  saving  $1,997 
a  week.  We  turned  out,  in  Newport,  six  carriages 
when  we  went  driving ;  but  this  was  a  display  that 
23  315 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


I  always  set  my  heart  against.    It  seemed  to  be 
mere  wastefulness. 

Since  my  occupancy,  Train  Villa,  as  it  is  called 
to  this  day,  has  been  rented  by  some  of  the  most 
prominent  persons  in  the  fashionable  world. 
Among  those  who  have  lived  in  it  are  the  Ker- 
nochans,  the  Kips,  Governor  Lippitt  of  Rhode  Is- 
land, some  of  the  Vanderbilts  and  the  Mortimers. 
At  the  present  time,  it  is  occupied  by  George  B.  de 
Forest.  It  was  formerly  rented  for  $5,000  for 
three  months  or  the  season.  It  never  paid  us  two 
per  centum  on  its  cost,  and  finally  was  sold  by  the 
trustee.  Colonel  Davis. 

The  Villa  was  once  turned  into  a  jail,  although 
I  was  not  the  captive  in  that  instance.  In  the 
%  famous  Credit  Mobilier  case,  in  72-73,  a  man, 
who  was  my  guest  at  the  time,  was  arrested,  and, 
as  the  Credit  Mobilier  men  then  in  Newport  could 
not  give  bail  in  the  sum  of  $1,000,000,  as  demanded, 
an  arrangement  was  made  with  the  sheriff  by 
which  the  Villa  temporarily  became  a  jail,  where 
my  guest  was  confined. 

So  full  of  confidence  was  I  that  I  could  be 
elected  President  in  72,  that  I  telegraphed  from 
San  Francisco  that  I  would  reach  Newport  on  a 
certain  day,  and  wished  arrangements  made  for  a 
"Presidential"  banquet.  Although  this  banquet 
was  not  the  end  of  the  campaign,  it  was  the  last 
flourish  of  trumpets  in  my  Presidential  aspirations. 

My  political  career  in  fact  was  brief.    My  in- 

316 


A  CANDIDATE  FOE  PRESIDENT 


tention  was  to  have  it  extend  through  at  least  a 
Presidential  term;  but  the  people  would  not  have 
it  so.  Prior  to  '69,  70,  71,  and  72, 1  had  taken  no 
active  part  in  politics,  although  I  had  been  in- 
terested in  various  campaigns  and  in  many  great 
public  questions  of  the  day.  I  have  already  re- 
ferred to  the  offer  made  to  me  by  the  revolution- 
ists in  Australia  to  make  me  their  President.  That  k 
was,  perhaps,  the  first  time  that  anything  political 
ever  entered  my  life.  The  offer  was  by  no  means  a 
temptation  to  me  and  I  refused  to  consider  it,  with- 
out a  single  poignant  regret. 

In  '65,  the  Fenians,  after  I  had  espoused  the 
general  cause  of  the  Irish,  as  of  the  oppressed  of 
every  country,  asked  me  to  attend  their  first  con- 
vention, which  was  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia. 
They  wished  me  to  address  them.  This  I  did,  but 
I  took  no  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  convention 
or  of  the  faction.  I  had  already  attended  the 
Democratic  Convention  in  Louisville  in  '64,  when 
I  held  a  proxy  from  Nebraska,  and  had  hoped  to 
have  General  DLx  nominated  for  President  and 
Admiral  Farragut  for  Vice-President,  but  I  was 
not  permitted  to  take  my  seat. 

"While  I  was  in  the  Four  Courts'  Marshalsea, 
in  Dublin,  in  '68,  James  Brooks,  of  the  New  York 
Express,  sent  word  to  me  that  the  Democrats  in 
convention  were  willing  to  nominate  Salmon  P. 
Chase  if  I  would  consent  to  take  the  second  place 
on  the  ticket.    This  did  not  suit  me  at  all,  and  I 

317 


MY  LIFE   IN  MANY  STATES 


sent  a  despatch  to  Brooks  that  I  would  take  the 
first  place  only,  and  that  as  Chase  was  my  friend, 
he  could  take  the  second  place.  This  put  an  end  to 
the  negotiations. 

But  the  seed  of  ambition  had  been  sown,  even 
before  this,  and  it  germinated  in  the  old  Irish 
prison.  As  soon  as  I  got  out  of  that  jail,  I  began 
my  campaign  for  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  '69  started  on  a  program  that  involved  1,000 
addresses  to  1,000  conventions.  It  seemed  to  me 
that,  with  the  effect  I  had  always  had  upon  people 
in  my  speeches  and  in  personal  contact,  and  with 
the  record  of  great  achievements  in  behalf  of  the 
progress  of  the  world,  especially  with  regard  to 
the  development  of  this  country,  I  should  succeed. 
I  supposed  that  a  man  with  my  record,  and  with- 
out a  stain  on  my  reputation  or  blemish  in  my 
character,  would  be  received  as  a  popular  can- 
didate. 

I  had  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  I  should  be 
elected;  and,  with  this  sublime  self-confidence, 
threw  myself  into  the  campaign  with  an  energy 
and  fire  that  never  before,  perhaps,  characterized 
a  Presidential  candidate.  I  went  into  the  cam- 
paign as  into  a  battle.  I  forced  fighting  at  every 
point  along  the  line,  fiercely  assailing  Grant  and  his 
"  nepotism,"  on  the  one  hand,  and  Greeley,  and  the 
spirit  of  compromise  and  barter  that  I  felt  his 
nomination  represented,  on  the  other. 

In  the  year  '69 1  had  made  twenty-eight  speeches 

318 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  PRESIDENT 

in  California,  and  eighty  on  the  Pacific  coast.  I 
also  made  a  trip  over  the  Union  Pacific  Railway, 
on  the  first  train  over  that  line,  and  made  ad- 
dresses at  many  places  throughout  the  country/. 
The  following  year,  '70,  I  seriously  set  myself  to 
the  task  of  appealing  to  the  people  directly  for 
support,  and  began  a  series  of  public  addresses  on 
the  issues  of  the  day.  But  this  year's  work  was 
interrupted  by  my  trip  around  the  world  in  eighty 
days,  which  consumed  the  end  of  the  year,  from 
the  1st  of  August  to  Christmas. 

In  '71  I  fought  hard  from  January  to  Decem- 
ber, making  the  total  of  my  speeches  to  the  people 
800,  and  having  spoken  directly,  up  to  that  time, 
to  something  like  2,000,000  persons.  Of  course, 
my  campaign  was  made  on  independent  lines  en- 
tirely. I  was  not  the  nominee  nor  the  complaisant  n( 
tool  of  any  party  or  faction.  I  made  my  race  as 
one  who  came  from  the  bosom  of  the  people, 
and  who  represented  the  highest  interests  of  the 
people.  It  was  just  here  that  failure  came.  I 
thought  I  knew  something  of  the  people,  and  felt 
confident  that  they  would  prefer  a  man  of  inde- 
pendence, who  had  accomplished  something  for 
them,  to  a  man  who  was  a  mere  tool  of  his  party, 
a  distributor  of  patronage  to  his  friends  and  rela- 
tives, or  to  one  who  was  a  mere  stalking-horse. 
But  I  was  mistaken.  The  people,  as  Barnum  has 
said,  love  to  be  humbugged,  and  are  quite  ready  y^ 
to  pay  tribute  to  the  political  boss  and  spoilsman. 

319 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


A  remarkable  feature  of  my  campaign  was  that, 
instead  of  scattering  money  broadcast,  to  draw 
crowds  or  to  win  votes,  I  made  a  charge  for  ad- 
mission to  hear  my  addresses.  I  spoke  to  audiences 
that  paid  to  hear  me  talk  to  them  in  my  own  be- 
half and  in  theirs.  In  three  years  of  active  work — 
with  the  interruption  of  my  trip  around  the  world 
in  70 — I  took  in  $90,000  in  admission  charges.  In 
spite  of  these  charges,  I  spoke  to  more  people  and 
had  greater  audiences  to  listen  to  me  than  any 
other  speaker  during  that  heated  campaign. 

There  was  another  remarkable  thing  about  my 
campaign.  I  possessed  tremendous  power  over 
audiences.  So  long  as  I  could  reach  them  with  my 
voice,  or  talk  with  them  or  shake  hands  with  them, 
I  could  hold  them ;  but  the  moment  they  got  out  of 
my  reach  they  got  away  from  me,  and  slipped  back 
again  to  the  sway  of  the  political  bosses. 

I  saw  that  my  chance  of  getting  the  nomina- 
tion was  lost  long  before  the  assembling  of  the  Lib- 
eral Republican  Convention  of  72  in  Cincinnati.  I 
was  not  astonished  by  the  result  of  that  conven- 
tion, except  that  I  did  not  expect  the  nomination 
of  Greeley,  which  I  considered  as  a  piece  of  politi- 
cal treachery,  a  deliberately  calculated  movement 
in  the  interest  of  Grant.  But  I  still  felt,  vainly, 
indeed,  some  hope  that  the  people  would  see  the 
futility  of  supporting  Greeley,  and  of  placing  me 
at  the  head  of  the  ticket. 

I  can  recall  now  the  scenes  in  the  Convention 

320 


A  CANDIDATE  FOR  PRESIDENT 

Hall  when  Carl  Schurz  nominated  Horace  Greeley. 
Outside  of  some  cheering  on  the  part  of  those  who 
were  party  to  the  trickery,  the  nomination  was  re- 
ceived with  ominous  stillness.  Suddenly,  from  out 
of  the  gallery,  near  where  I  was  seated,  there  came 
a  thin,  quavering,  piercing  voice,  like  the  cry  of  a 
seer  of  the  wilderness  or  a  wandering  Jeremiah: 
"  Sold,  by  God,  but  the  goods  not  delivered !  " 

The  words  sounded  then  like  a  pronouncement 
of  doom ;  but  it  proved  not  to  be  so.  The  "  deal  ** 
was  carried  out,  and  the  "  goods  "  were  delivered. 
Grant  was  elected,  and  Greeley,  betrayed,  retired, 
a  heart-broken  man. 

Before  I  close  this  chapter  on  the  Presidency, 
I  wish  to  record  here  one  distinct  service  which  I 
believe  I  rendered  this  city  and  the  country  during 
my  campaign.    It  was  I,  and  not  the  New  York 
newspapers,    that    first    exposed    the    so-called    /^ 
"  Tweed  Ring."    I  began  the  fight  against  this  ring 
of  corrupt  politicians,  single-handed,  and  kept  it 
up  for  more  than  a  year  before  any  New  York 
paper  or  any  other  journal  took  up  the  issue.    The 
New  York  papers,  in  fact,  refused  to  publish  my 
speech  exposing  this  gang  of  public  plunderers, 
and  it  was  published  in  the  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  Republi-  ' 
can  on  April  22,  '71.    The  speech  itself  was  made     /^ 
long  before  Tweed  had  been  accused  of  misuse  of 
public  funds. 

"\\Tiile  I  was  on  the  platform,  a  voice  asked  me 
"^Vho  is  the  ring?"     I  had  been  attacking  the 

321 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

"  ring  "  in  every  public  utterance  in  New  York.  I 
replied :  "  Hoffman,  Tweed,  Sweeney,  Fisk,  and 
Gould."  Later,  in  tlie  same  speech,  I  said :  "  Tweed 
and  Sweeney  are  taxing  you  from  head  to  foot, 
while  their  horses  are  living  in  palaces,"  and  then, 
using,  for  effect,  some  of  the  methods  of  the 
French  Commune,  I  cried :  "  To  the  lamp-post ! 
All  those  in  favor  of  hanging  Tweed  to  a  lamp- 
post, say  aye  I "  There  was  a  tremendous  out- 
burst of  "  ayes." 

In  other  speeches  I  went  into  details  and  gave 
the  sums  of  which  the  people  of  New  York  had 
been  plundered,  and  the  amounts  that  had  been 
paid  in  bribes  to  obtain  influence  in  stilling  public 
suspicion,  and  to  buy  immunity  from  exposure  and 
opportunity  for  further  theft. 

So  my  campaign  for  the  Presidency  was  not 
entirely  in  vain.  It  was  something  that  seemed  un- 
avoidable, toward  which  I  seemed  pressed  by  cir- 
cumstance and  fate;  and  I  can  rest  in  the  con- 
sciousness that  it  accomplished  some  permanent 
good. 


322 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

DECLARED   A   LUNATIC 

1872-1873 

I  HAD  hardly  got  out  of  the  Presidential  race  y 
before  I  got  into  jail  again.  I  passed  easily  from 
one  kind  of  life  to  the  other.  In  fact,  the  last  thing 
I  did  in  connection  with  my  political  campaign  had 
been  the  indirect  cause  of  getting  me  into  the 
Tombs.  The  Tombs  has  the  honor  of  being  the  . 
fourteenth  jail  that  has  given  me  shelter  for  pur- 
poses of  meditation.  -  -^ 

In  November,  '72,  I  was  making  a  speech  from  { 
Henry  Clews's  steps  in  Wall  Street,  partly  to  quiet 
a  mob,  when  a  paper  was  thrust  into  my  hand.  I 
glanced  at  it,  thinking  it  had  to  do  with  myself,  and 
saw  that  Victoria  C.  "Woodhull  and  Tennie  C.  Claf- 
lin  had  been  arrested  for  publishing  in  their  paper  ^ 
in  Brooklyn  an  account  of  a  scandal  about  a  famous 
clergyman  in  that  city.  The  charge  was  "  obscen- 
ity," and  they  had  been  arrested  at  the  instance  of 
Anthony  Comstock.  I  immediately  said :  "  This 
may  be  libel,  but  it  is  not  obscenity." 

That  assertion,  with  what  I  soon  did  to  estab- 

323 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


W 


lish  its  truth,  got  me  into  jail,  with  the  result 
that  six  courts  in  succession — afraid  to  bring  me 
to  trial  for  "  obscenity  " — declared  me  a  "  luna- 
tic," and  prevented  my  enjoyment  of  property  in 
Omaha,  Nebraska,  which  is  now  worth  millions  of 
dollars. 

From  Wall  Street  I  hurried  to  Ludlow  Street 
Jail,  where  I  found  Victoria  C.  Woodhull  and 
Tennie  C.  Claflin  in  a  cell  about  eight  by  four  feet. 
I  was  indignant  that  two  women,  who  had  merely 
published  a  current  rumor,  should  be  treated  in 
this  way,  and  took  a  piece  of  charcoal  and  wrote 
on  the  newly  whitewashed  walls  of  the  cell  a 
couplet  suggesting  the  baseness  of  this  attack  upon 
their  reputations.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  here  that 
public  feeling  was  so  aroused  that  these  women 
were  soon  set  free;  but  I  got  myself  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  toils  of  the  courts. 

In  order  to  prove  that  the  publication  was  not 
obscene,  if  judged  by  Christian  standards  of  pu- 
rity, I  published  in  my  paper,  called  The  Train 
Ligue,  three  columns  of  quotations  from  the  Bible. 
Every  verse  I  used  was  worse  than  anything  pub- 
lished by  these  women.  I  was  immediately  ar- 
rested on  a  charge  of  "  obscenity,"  and  taken 
to  the  Tombs.  I  was  never  tried  on  this  charge, 
but  was  kept  in  jail  as  a  lunatic,  and  then  dis- 
missed, under  the  ban  of  declared  lunacy,  and 
have  so  remained  for  thirty  years.  Although 
the  public  pretended  to  be  against  me,  it  was 

324 


CO 


O 


DECLARED  A  LUNATIC 


very  eager  to  buy  the  edition  of  my  paper  that 
gave  these  extracts  from  the  Bible.  The  price  of 
the  paper  rose  from  five  cents  a  copy  to  twenty, 
forty,  sixty  cents,  and  even  to  one  dollar.  In  a  few 
days  it  was  selling  surreptitiously  for  two  dollars 
a  copy. 

I  was  put  in  Tweed's  cell,  number  56,  in  "  Mur- 
derers' Row,"  in  the  Tombs,  where  at  that  time 
were  twenty-two  men  imprisoned  under  the  charge 
of  murder.  I  made  the  twenty-third  inhabitant  of 
that  ghastly  "  Row."  It  is  remarkable  that  not 
one  of  these  men  was  hanged.  All  were  either 
acquitted,  or  tried  and  sentenced  and  got  off  with 
varying  terms  of  service. 

It  was  not  a  select,  but  it  was  at  least  a  famous, 
group  of  men  in  "  Murderers'  Row."  Across  the 
narrow  hallway,  just  opposite  my  cell,  was  Ed- 
ward S.  Stokes,  who  had  killed  James  Fisk,  Jr. 
Next  to  me  were  John  J.  Scannell  and  Richard 
Croker,  both  of  whom  have  been  prominent  in  the 
city  administration  in  later  years.  There  was,  also, 
the  famous  Sharkey,  who  might  have  got  into  worse 
trouble  than  any  of  us,  but  who  escaped  through 
the  pluck  and  ingenuity  of  Maggie  Jordan.  Maggie 
happened  to  be  about  the  same  size  as  her  lover, 
and  changed  clothes  with  him  in  the  cell.  The 
warden,  one  morning,  found  he  had  a  woman  in  his 
cage  instead  of  Sharkey.  This  was  the  last  ever 
heard  of  Sharkev,  so  far  as  I  know. 

My  chief  purpose  in  jail  was  not  to  get  out,  but 

325 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

to  be  tried  on  the  charge  of  obscenity.  I  had  been 
arrested  for  that  offense,  and  determined  that  I 
Y  would  be  either  acquitted  or  convicted.  But  I  have 
never  had  a  trial  to  this  day.  I  do  not  believe  that 
any  court  in  the  land  would  face  the  danger  of  try- 
ing to  convict  a  man  of  publishing  obscenity  for 
quoting  from  the  standard  book  on  morality  read 
throughout  Christendom. 

However  this  may  be,  I  was  offered  a  hundred 
avenues  of  escape  from  jail,  every  conceivable  one, 
except  the  honest  and  straightforward  one  of  a 
fair  trial  by  jury.  Men  offered  to  bail  me  out; 
twice  I  was  taken  out  on  proceedings  instituted  by 
women;  but  I  would  not  avail  myself  of  this  way 
to  freedom.  Several  times  I  was  left  alone  in  the 
court-house  or  in  hallways,  or  other  places,  where 
access  to  the  street  was  easy,  entirely  without 
guards,  in  the  vain  hope  that  I  would  walk  off  with 
my  liberty.  I  was  discharged  by  the  courts ;  and  I 
was  offered  freedom  if  I  would  sign  certain  papers 
that  were  brought  to  me,  but  I  invariably  refused 
to  look  at  them.  In  all  cases  I  merely  turned  back 
and  took  my  place  in  the  cell,  and  waited  for 
justice. 

In  '73  I  was  finally  taken  before  Judge  Davis 
in  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer.  William  F. 
Howe,  who  died  this  year,  was  one  of  my  coun- 
sel, and  Clark  Bell  was  another.  Howe  took 
the  ground,  first,  that  obviously  there  could  be 
nothing   obscene  in   the   publication   of   extracts 

326 


DECLAKED  A  LUNATIC 


from  the  Bible,  and,  second,  if  there  were,  that  I 
was  insane  at  the  time  of  the  publication.  The 
judge  hastily  said  that  he  would  instruct  the 
jury  to  acquit  me  if  the  defense  took  this  posi- 
tion. Mr.  Bell  then  asked  that  a  simple  ver- 
dict of  "  not  guilty  "  be  rendered ;  but  the  judge 
insisted  upon  its  form  being  "  Not  guilty,  on 
the  ground  of  insanity."  This  verdict  was 
taken. 

I  rose  immediately,  and  said :  "  I  protest  against 
this  whole  proceeding.  I  have  been  four  months 
in  jail ;  and  I  have  had  no  trial  for  the  offense  with 
which  I  am  charged."  I  felt  that  I  was  in  the  same 
plight  as  Paul.  The  Bible  and  the  Church,  surely, 
could  not  condemn  me  for  quoting  Scripture ;  and 
I  had  appealed  unto  Czesar;  but  Caesar  refused, 
out  of  sheer  cowardice,  to  hear  me  and  try  me.  I 
was  not  even  listened  to  when  I  made  this  protest, 
and  I  shouted,  so  that  all  must  hear  me :  "  Your 
honor,  I  move  your  impeachment  in  the  name  of 
the  people ! " 

The  sensation  was  tremendous.  "  Sit  down !  " 
roared  the  judge.  He  evidently  thought  that  I 
would  attack  him.  An  order  committing  me  to  the 
State  Lunatic  Asylum  was  issued,  and  I  was  taken 
back  to  the  Tombs.  But  I  did  not  go  to  the  asylum. 
Another  writ  of  habeas  corpus  took  me  out  of  jail, 
and  I  at  last  turned  my  back  on  the  Tombs — a 
lunatic  by  judicial  decree.  I  hope  that  the  courts, 
inasmuch  as  I  am  their  ward,  and  have  been  for 

327 


X. 


--<: 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

thirty  years,  have  protected  me  in  my  rights,  and 
have  safeguarded  those  interests  in  Omaha  where 
some  millions  of  dollars  depend  upon  the  question 
of  my  sanity. 

The  moment  I  was  taken  out  of  the  Tombs, 
I  went  down  town,  had  a  bath,  got  a  good  meal, 
put  on  better  clothes,  and  bought  passage  for 
England.  I  went  to  join  my  family  at  Homburg, 
as  my  sons  were  then  in  Germany,  studying  at 
Frankfort. 

This  Woodhull-Claflin  affair  had  far-reaching 
effects.  Besides  leaving  me  for  thirty  years  in 
the  grip  of  the  court,  it  affected  many  other 
persons.  I  shall  refer  here  only  to  one  of  these, 
the  publisher  of  a  newspaper  in  Toledo,  who 
printed  some  of  the  matter  that  I  had  printed  in 
New  York.  He  was  prosecuted,  and  his  paper  and 
press  were  seized.  The  poor  fellow  asked  me  to 
lecture  in  his  interest.  I  could  not  do  this,  but 
helped  him  to  raise  some  money  to  buy  a  new 
i  printing-press.  This  was  in  August,  '83,  when  I 
"~    was  at  Vevay,  Switzerland. 

A  worthless  piece  of  paper  eventually  fell  into 
the  hands  of  another  man,  who  proceeded  to 
prosecute  me,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
courts,  kept  me  in  the  Charles  Street  Jail,  Boston, 
for  some  time.  I  was  arrested  for  this  old  debt  of 
another  man,  and  was  refused  the  constitutional 
relief  of  habeas  corpus  by  Judge  Devins  and  five 
other  judges  of  Massachusetts.     The  amount  of 

328 


DECLARED  A  LUNATIC 


the  debt  had  steadily  increased,  and  was  $800  in 
'89.  Finally,  I  went  before  Judge  McKim,  and  he 
at  once  dismissed  the  case  as  groundless. 

This  brought  my  jail  experiences  to  a  close. 
Was  it  fitting  that  Boston,  where  I  had  lived  and 
worked;  where  I  had  devised  the  building  of  the 
greatest  ships  the  world  had  known  up  to  that 
time;  where  I  had  projected  and  organized  the 
clipper-ship  service  to  California,  and  opened  a 
new  era  in  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world,  and 
where  I  had  organized  the  Union  Pacific  Railway 
to  develop  the  entire  "West  and  draw  continents 
nearer  together,  should  put  me  in  jail  for  a  petty 
debt  that  I  did  not  owe,  as  in  some  sort  an  evidence 
of  its  gratitude  ? 

My  prison  experience  has  been  more  varied 
than  that  of  the  most  confirmed  and  hardened, 
criminal ;  and  yet  I  have  never  committed  a  crime, 
cheated  a  human  being,  or  told  a  lie.  I  have  been 
imprisoned  in  almost  every  sort  of  jail  that  man 
has  devised.  I  have  been  in  police  stations,  in 
Marshalseas  in  England  and  in  Ireland,  in  common 
jails  in  Boston,  in  the  Bastile  of  Lyons,  in  the  Pre- 
fecture at  Tours  as  the  prisoner  of  Gambetta, 
Dictator  of  France,  and  in  the  famous  old  Tombs 
of  New  York.  I  have  used  prisons  well.  They 
have  been  as  schools  to  me,  where  I  have  reflected, 
and  learned  more  about  myself — and  a  man's  own 
self  is  the  best  object  of  any  one's  study.  I  have, 
also,  made  jails  the  source  of  fruitful  ideas,  and 

329 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


from  them  have  launched  many  of  my  most  start- 
ling and  useful  projects  and  innovations.  And  so 
they  have  not  been  jails  to  me,  any  more  than  they 
were  to  Lovelace : 

"Stone  walls  do  not  a  prison  make, 
Nor  iron  bars  a  cage; 
Minds  innocent  and  quiet  take 
That  for  an  hermitage." 


330 


CHAPTER   XXVin 

AROUND    THE     WORLD     IN    EIGHTY,     SIXTY-SEVEN, 

AND   SIXTY   DAYS 

1870,  1890,  1892 

I  WENT  around  the  world  in  eighty  days  in  the 
year  '70,  two  years  before  Jules  Verne  wrote  his 
famous  romance,  Le  Tour  du  Monde  en  Quatre- 
vingts  Jours,  which  was  founded  upon  my  voy- 
age. Since  then  I  have  made  two  tours  of  the 
world,  one  in  sixty-seven  and  a  half  days,  and  the 
other  in  sixty.  The  last  voyage  still  stands  as  the 
record  trip  in  circling  the  globe. 

I  have  always  been  something  of  a  traveler, 
restless  in  my  earlier  years,  and  never  averse  to 
visiting  new  scenes  and  experiencing  new  sensa- 
tions. In  Australasia  I  had  improved  every  op- 
portunity to  see  the  new  world  of  the  South  Seas, 
and  later  had  visited  every  part  of  the  Orient  that 
I  could  by  any  possibility  reach  during  my  vari- 
ous journeys  in  that  portion  of  the  globe.  Europe 
I  had  traversed  quite  thoroughly,  from  the  Crimea 
to  Nijnii  Novgorod,  from  the  Volga  to  the  Thames, 
from  Spain  to  Finland.  When  I  left  Australia  it 
23  331 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


was  my  intention  to  establish  a  great  business  in 
Yokohama,  and,  when  that  had  been  done,  I  in- 
tended to  pass  on  across  the  Pacific,  thus  girdling 
the  globe;  but  my  first  effort  to  go  around  the 
world  was  prevented  by  the  war  in  the  Crimea, 
and  so  I  turned  back  and  came  home,  as  already 
described,  by  way  of  China,  India,  Egypt,  and 
Europe. 

The  desire  for  travel  possessed  me  mightily  in 
*69,  just  after  the  golden  spike  was  driven  at  the 
completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  by  which 
California  and  New  York  were  made  nearer  one 
another  by  many  days  of  travel.  The  circumfer- 
ence of  the  globe  had  been  shrunken.  I  wanted, 
naturally,  to  be  the  first  man  to  utilize  the  great 
i-  advantage  thus  given  to  travel  by  making  the 
quickest  trip  around  the  world. 

After  closing  my  lecture  tour  on  the  Pacific 
coast  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  70,  I  prepared 
for  such  a  trip,  carefully  calculating  that  it  could 
be  made  within  eighty  days,  even  with  the  inevi- 
table losses  due  to  bad  connections  at  different 
ports.  I  wanted  to  take  my  sons,  George  and 
Elsey,  with  me,  but,  at  the  last  moment,  they  were 
prevented  from  going.  I  found  out  only  a  few 
days  ago,  when  accusing  my  daughter  Sue  of  keep- 
ing them  in  Newport,  that  their  mother  had  given 
them  ten  golden  eagles  each  not  to  go.  I  sailed 
from  San  Francisco  August  1,  70.  On  the  same 
ship  was  Susan  B.  King,  whom  I  found  in  San 

332 


TRIPS  AROUND  THE  WORLD 

Francisco  waiting  to  sail,  as  she  was  tired  of  the 
way  her  affairs  were  going  in  New  York  and 
wanted  a  long  trip  for  rest  and  recreation.  She 
had  $30,000  with  her,  which  she  said  she  would  try , 
to  invest  profitably  on  the  voyage.  She  was  then 
quite  an  old  woman,  as  the  world  generally  esti- 
mates age. 

I  made  Yokohama  in  very  good  time,  and  went 
immediately  to  the  Japanese  capital,  the  new  seat 
of  the  Emperor,  Tokyo.  I  may  record  here  a  very 
curious  thing.  I  believe  I  was  the  last  man — the 
last  foreigner,  at  least — who  had  taken  part  in  an 
old  national  custom  of  Japan,  by  which  persons  of 
opposite  sex  bathe  together,  without  bathing  suits. 
It  was  then  considered,  in  that  land  of  good  morals 
and  fine  esthetic  sense,  that  no  impropriety  was 
involved  in  this  custom.  Manners  and  customs 
there  were  open  and  free  as  in  Greece,  when 
Athens  was  "  the  eye  of  Greece  "  and  the  center  of 
the  world's  civilization.  I  went  to  one  of  the  pub- 
lic baths  to  experience  a  decidedly  new  sensation. 
I  was  allowed  to  bathe  with  old  men  and  women, 
young  men  and  maidens — and  no  one,  except,  per- 
haps, myself,  felt  any  degree  of  embarrassment  or 
false  modesty. 

But  the  fact  that  a  foreigner  was  bathing  in 
this  way  with  Japanese  women  and  girls  made 
something  of  a  stir  in  Tokyo  that  had  been  unex- 
pected by  me.  It  seems  that,  a  short  time  before, 
some  Englishmen  had  gone  into  one  of  the  public 

333 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY   STATES 

baths  and  made  themselves  very  offensive.  This 
had  taught  the  Japanese  that  they  could  not  trust 
the  foreigner,  and  they  had  already  nearly  decided 
to  exclude  foreigners  from  their  baths,  or  to 
separate  the  sexes.  My  experience  was,  therefore, 
the  last,  as  I  believe.  After  this  the  sexes  were 
not  permitted  to  bathe  together. 

I  observed  that  the  Japanese  used  small  paper 
packages  for  tea,  thus  making  it  convenient  to 
handle  tea.  I  then  recalled  the  custom  of  the 
Chinese  in  compressing  tea  for  transportation  by 
caravan  to  the  great  Fair  of  Nijnii  Novgorod. 
Here  was  an  opportunity,  I  thought,  and  I  sug- 
gested to  Susan  B.  King  that  she  might  invest  her 
$30,000  to  good  purpose  in  sending  to  New  York 
"i^  a  cargo  of  tea  put  up  in  little  paper  packages,  and 
that,  if  she  wanted  to  try  it,  I  would  give  her 
letters  to  men  in  Canton  who  could  arrange  the 
matter  for  her.  She  undertook  the  scheme,  and  I 
wrote  a  description  of  it  for  Anglin's  Gazette,  in 
Yokohama.  The  tea  was  shipped  to  New  York, 
and  was  handled  at  the  Demorest  headquarters. 
The  tea  was  in  half-pound  and  pound  packages. 
This  was  long  before  Sir  Thomas  Lipton  employed 
this  method  of  putting  up  teas. 

At  Saigon,  in  French  Cochin-China,  I  met  the 
United  States  ship  Alaska;  and  from  that  port 
sailed  on  a  ship  of  the  Messagerie  Imperiale  line 
for  Marseilles.  The  remainder  of  the  voyage  was 
uneventful,  except  for  the  diversion  just  before  we 

334 


4 


TEIPS  AROUND  THE  WORLD 


left  Singapore  of  hearing  the  news  of  the  fall  of  the 
Second  Empire,  the  defeat  of  Louis  Napoleon  at 
Sedan,  and  the  establishment  of  the  republic. 

I  have  already  recorded,  in  the  chapter  on  the 
Commune  in  France,  my  arrival  at  Marseilles  and 
my  experiences  in  the  brief  period  of  my  visit. 
After  I  had  been  arrested  and  liberated,  and  had 
had  my  interview  with  Gambetta  at  Tours,  I 
passed  on  rapidly  to  New  York,  and  finished  my 
tour  of  the  world  inside  of  eighty  days. 

My  second  trip  was  made  in  the  year  '90.  I 
planned  it  while  I  was  in  jail  in  Boston  for  a  debt 
that  I  did  not  contract.  There  had  been  some  note- 
worthy efforts  on  the  part  of  newspaper  writers 
to  make  a  record-breaking  trip,  and  Miss  Bisland 
had  gone  around  in  seventy-eight  days,  while 
Nellie  Bly  had  succeeded  in  making  the  voyage  in 
seventy-three  days.  I  proposed  to  Col.  John  A. 
Cockerill,  of  the  New  York  World,  who  had  sent 
Nellie  Bly  on  her  trip,  to  make  the  circuit  in  less 
time ;  but  he  did  not  care  to  upset  the  World's  own 
record.  I  then  telegraphed  to  Radebaugh,  pro- 
prietor of  the  Tacoma  Ledger,  that  if  he  would 
raise  $1,000  for  a  lecture  in  Tacoma,  I  would  make 
a  trip  around  the  world  in  less  than  seventy  days. 
He  told  me  to  come  on. 

As  I  started  West,  to  sail  on  the  Abyssinia,  I 
received  message  after  message  from  Radebaugh. 
Instead  of  the  $1,000  I  had  asked  for,  $1,500  had 
been  subscribed  by  the  time  I  reached  Chicago,  and 

335 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

at  St.  Paul  it  had  gone  up  to  $3,500.  I  soon 
reached  Tacoma,  and  lectured  there  to  an  immense 
audience,  taking  in  $4,200,  the  largest  amount  ever 
paid  for  a  single  lecture — and  sailed  out  into  the 
Pacific  March  18th.  I  was  accompanied  by  S.  W. 
Wall,  editor  of  the  Ledger.  Lafcadio  Hearn,  the 
distinguished  writer,  was  on  the  same  ship,  on  his 
way  to  Japan.  He  was  so  ill  that  he  did  not  leave 
his  stateroom  during  the  voyage. 

We  made  Yokohama  in  sixteen  days,  and  the 
moment  I  landed  I  telegraphed  to  the  American 
legation  at  Tokyo  to  get  me  a  passport.  It  had 
always  taken  three  days  to  get  a  passport,  but  I 
said  that  I  must  have  this  at  once,  and  I  got  it. 
In  seven  hours  I  was  on  the  way  to  Kobe,  over- 
land, three  hundred  miles  across  Japan.  I  caught 
the  German  ship  for  Nagasaki,  from  which  point, 
after  a  short  delay,  I  sailed  for  Hongkong.  In  a 
trip  of  this  kind,  of  course,  one  sees  little  of  in- 
terest. It  is  a  mere  question  of  rushing  from 
vessel  to  vessel  the  moment  you  get  into  port,  or 
-f  of  catching  trains,  or  of  chartering  boats  to  bridge 
gaps,  or  of  haggling  with  ship-captains  or  railway 
managers  about  getting  extra  accommodations  at 
very  extra  prices. 

My  longest  delay  was  at  Singapore,  where  I 
lost  forty  hours.  The  next  longest  loss  of  time 
was  in  New  York — wonderful  to  relate — where  I 
was  delayed  thirty-six  hours,  although  four  rail- 
ways were  competing  for  the  honor  of  taking  me 

336 


TRIPS  AROUND  THE  WORLD 

across  the  continent  on  a  record-breaking  journey. 
I  arrived  on  Saturday,  and  had  to  charter  a  special 
car — which  cost  $1,500 — and  could  not  get  away 
until  Monday  morning.  I  was  near  being  delayed 
a  day  at  Calais,  France,  but  succeeded  in  charter- 
ing a  boat  to  take  me  over  the  Channel.  As  this 
boat  carried  the  British  mails,  I  was  relieved  of  the 
expense  by  the  British  Government. 

At  Portland  I  met  with  a  most  annoying  delay 
of  five  hours,  due  entirely  to  mismanagement. 
This  most  unexpectedly  lengthened  out  my  tour  at 
the  very  end,  and  so  angered  me  that  I  refused  to 
attend  a  banquet  the  people  had  prepared  for  me. 
I  pushed  on  to  Tacoma  as  soon  as  I  could  get  any- 
thing to  carry  me,  and  arrived  there  exactly  sixty- 
seven  days,  thirteen  hours,  two  minutes,  and  fifty- 
five  seconds  from  the  time  I  had  started.  The 
actual  time  of  traveling  was  fifty-nine  days  and 
seven*  hours.  Seven  days  and  five  hours  had  been 
lost.  This  was  then  the  fastest  trip  around  the 
world.    It  has  been  beaten  since  by  myself. 

As  I  had  started  on  my  second  trip  from  a 
Pacific  coast  point,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  rivalry 
among  the  growing  towns  in  that  section  with  re- 
gard to  the  honor  of  being  the  starting-point  of  my 
third  trip  in  '92,  in  which  I  eclipsed  all  previous 
records.  I  had  already  announced  that  this  could 
readily  be  done,  as  the  Pacific  steamships  were 
very  much  faster  than  they  had  been  at  the  time  of 
my  former  voyage,  and  as  the  connections  at  vari- 

337 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

ous  ports  were  much  better.  Sir  William  Van 
Home  had  also  written  that  he  wanted  me  to  make 
another  tour  of  the  world,  using  one  of  the  fast 
ships  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  road,  the  famous 
Empresses,  that  soon  would  be  put  on  the  line  to 
Yokohama.  The  new  town  of  Whatcom,  on  Puget 
Sound,  in  the  extreme  northwest  of  Washington, 
raised  the  amount  necessary  for  the  trip,  and  I 
made  my  start  from  that  point,  catching  the  Em- 
press of  India  from  Vancouver. 

An  account  of  this  voyage  would  necessarily  be 
only  a  panoramic  glance  at  a  narrow  line  around 
the  world.  I  made  Yokohama  in  eleven  days,  was 
at  Kobe,  Japan,  in  thirteen,  and  at  Shanghai  in 
fifteen.  Here  I  had  some  difficulty  in  finding  a  fast 
steamer  for  Singapore,  but  succeeded  in  getting 
aboard  a  swift  German  boat,  the  Friga,  which  put 
me  in  Singapore  in  time  to  catch  the  Moyune,  the 
last  of  the  fast  tea  ships,  and  on  her  I  sailed  as 
far  as  Port  Said,  through  the  Suez  Canal.  At 
Port  Said  I  boarded  the  Ismaila  for  Brindisi, 
Italy.  Then  I  again  rushed  across  Europe,  and 
caught  the  Majestic  at  Liverpool  for  New  York. 
I  found  a  distinguished  company  on  board, 
including  Ambassador  John  Hay,  D.  0.  Mills, 
Lady  Stewart,  Mrs.  Paran  Stevens,  and  Senator 
Spooner. 

I  arrived  in  New  York  in  good  time,  had  a  very 
slight  delay  in  comparison  with  that  of  iny  second 
voyage,  and  went  flying  across  the  continent  to 

338 


a 

n 

'o 


-2 


'So 


a 


TKIPS  AROUND  THE  WORLD 

"Whatcom.    The  entire  trip,  giving  a  complete  cir- 
cuit of  the  globe,  was  made  in  sixty  days. 

To  these  three  trips  I  attach  no  more  impor- 
tance, I  hope,  than  is  fairly  their  due.  In  each  of 
them,  in  succession,  I  had  beaten  all  previous 
records  of  travel;  and  this  was  something  in  the 
interests  of  all  persons  who  travel,  as  showing 
what  could  be  done  under  stress,  and  as  a  stim- 
ulus to  greater  efforts  to  reduce  the  long  months 
and  days  consumed  on  voyages  from  country  to 
country.  But  they  were,  as  I  consider  them, 
merely  incidents  in  a  life  that  has  better  things  to  X 
show.  One  of  these  voyages,  the  one  in  which  I 
"  put  a  girdle  round  the  earth  "  in  eighty  days,  has 
the  honor  of  having  given  the  suggestion  for  one  of 
the  most  interesting  romances  in  literature.  This, 
at  least,  is  something. 

But  I  give  this  brief  account  of  my  voyages,  at 
the  end  of  my  autobiography,  chiefly  because  I  re- 
gard them  as  somewhat  typical  of  my  life.  I  have  < 
lived  fast.  I  have  ever  been  an  advocate  of  speed. 
I  was  born  into  a  slow  world,  and  I  wished  to  oil  ^ 
the  wheels  and  gear,  so  that  the  machine  would 
spin  faster  and,  withal,  to  better  purposes.  I  sug- 
gested larger  and  fleeter  ships,  to  shorten  travel  on 
the  ocean.  I  built  street-railways,  so  that  the  work- 
ers of  the  world  might  save  a  few  minutes  from 
their  days  of  pitiless  toil,  and  so  might  have  a  little 
leisure  for  enjoyment  and  self-improvement.  I 
built  great  railway  lines — the  Atlantic  and  Great 

339 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 

Western,  and  the  Union  Pacific — that  the  continent 
might  be  traversed  by  men  and  commerce  more 
rapidly,  and  its  waste  places  made  to  blossom  like 
the  rose.  I  wished  to  add  a  stimulus,  a  spur,  a 
goad — if  necessary — that  the  slow,  old  world 
might  go  on  more  swiftly,  "  and  fetch  the  age  of 
gold,"  with  more  leisure,  more  culture,  more  hap- 
piness. And  so  I  put  faster  ships  on  the  oceans, 
and  faster  means  of  travel  on  land. 

My  own  rapid  tours  of  the  world  are,  therefore, 
typical  of  my  life.  Thus  an  account  of  them  seems 
to  round  it  off  fitly  with  a  "Bon  voyage"  to 
every  one. 


(1) 


340 


INDEX 


Achinese,    Bubjugation    of   the, 

178. 
Aden,  visit  to,  208. 
Adirondack   Railway,   2G0. 
American  Merchant  in  Europe, 

Asia,  and  Australia,  an,  222. 
Andaman  Islands,  204. 
Anglo-American,  the,  72,  144. 
Anglo-Saxon,  the,  55,  58,  72, 
Anjer,  visit  of  the  natives  at, 

174. 
Antietam,  Battle  of,  282. 
Ariens,  Admiral,  251. 
Around  the  world  tours,  3.31. 
Around    the   World   in   Eighty 

Days,  301,  331. 
Ashburner,  George,  204. 
Astor,  John  Jr.cob,  Jr.,  44. 
Atlantic    and    Great    Western 

Railway,  237,  2G9. 
Australia,    begin    business    in, 

127;   gold-fever  in,   130,   141; 

outlaws  of,  152,  156;  railway 

system  of,  209;   rebellion  in, 

156. 
Austria,  travels  in,  233. 

Bailey,  Crawshay,  and  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railway, 
244. 


Balaklava,  visit  to,  217. 

Balmoral,  visit  to,  92. 

Banka,  tin  mines  of,  179. 

Banking  and  gambling  com- 
pared, 86. 

Banks,  Gen.  Nathaniel  P.,  38, 
58. 

Baring,  Thomas,  visit  to  Amer- 
ica, 71. 

Bartley,  Judge,  244. 

Bastile  at  Lyons,  a  prisoner  in 
the,  310. 

Batavia,  Java,  beauty  of,  175. 

Bemig,  Emery,  37. 

Bemis,  George  Pickering,  8,  48, 
273,  311. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  222. 

Beyrout,  visit  to,  215. 

Birkenhead,  tramways  in,  261. 

Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  205. 

Blockade  running,  272. 

Bly,  Nellie,  trip  round  the 
world,  335. 

Bombay,  India,  railroad  in,  270. 

"  Bonanza  nugget,"  the,  story 
of,  141. 

Boomerang,  the,  169. 

Booth,  Edwin,  in  Melbourne, 
166, 

Botany  Bay,  144. 


341 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


Bougevine,  Gen.,  in  China,  196. 

Bowling,  skill  in,  79;  in  Aus- 
tralia, 135. 

Braemar,  meeting  with  Lord 
John  Russell  at,  92. 

Bridges,  the  phrenologist,  122. 

Briticisms,  91. 

Brooke,  "Sarawak,"  179. 

Brougham,  John,  visit  to  Liver- 
pool, 124. 

Bunker  Hill  Day,  112. 

Bury,  Lord,  105. 

Bushnell,  the  actor,  in  Mel- 
bourne, 167. 

Cairo,  land  trip  from  Suez  to, 

209. 
Calcutta,  visit  to,  204. 
Caldwell,    Captain,    partner    in 

the    Australian    house,    127, 

136,  223. 
California,  discovery  of  gold  in, 

7L 
Canada,  visit  to,  86. 
Canning,    Lord,    Governor-Gen- 
eral of  India,  207. 
Canton,  visit  to,  182,  185. 
Cape  May,  in  1850,  79. 
Carleton,    Mrs.,    meeting    with, 

83. 
Castiglione,  Countess,  230. 
Ceylon,  visit  to,  208. 
Chatsworth,  visit  to,  102. 
China,  visit  to,  180;  population 

of,  190. 
Chinese,     civilization     of     the, 

197;    customs    of    the,    190; 

honesty  of  the,  187. 
Choate,  Rufus,  retained  in  the 

Franklin  case,  62. 
Chronicle,  London,  purchase  of 

the,  272. 


Cincinnati,  honeymoon  trip  to, 
116. 

Civil  War  in  the  United  States, 
England  and  the,  271. 

Claflin,  Tennie  C,  arrest  of, 
323. 

Clarke,  John,  Jr.,  7,  9. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  debate  with, 
279. 

Clay,  Henry,  calls  on,  81. 

Cluseret,  Gen.  Gustave  Paul, 
summoned  from  Switzerland, 
305. 

Collie,  Alexander,  180. 

CoUingwood,  home  at,   135. 

Commune,  the,  301. 

Constantine,  Grand  Duke,  meet- 
ing with,  at  Strelna,  251. 

Constantinople,  visit  to,  216. 

Cook,  Captain,  in  Botany  Bay, 
145. 

Copenhagen,  tramway  in,  269. 

Cozzens's  Hotel,  Omaha,  296. 

Crf'dit  Foncier,  285. 

Credit  Mobilier  of  America, 
200,  285,  316. 

Crimea,  in  the,  217. 

Cristina,  Queen  Maria,  and  At- 
lantic and  Great  Western 
Railway,  227,  237. 

Crystal  Palace,  103,  104. 

Dalhousie,  Lord,  Governor-Gen- 
eral of  India,  207. 

Dallas,  George  M.,  250. 

Daniel  Webster,  the,   117. 

Darlington,  England,  tramways 
in,  269. 

Davis,  Col.  George  T.  M.,  110, 
116,  259. 

Delane,  John,  editor  London 
Times,  251. 


342 


INDEX 


Delinonico's,  McHenry's  $15,- 
000  dinner  at,  24G. 

De  Morny,  Count,  228. 

De  Questa,  Rodrigo,  and  Atlan- 
tic and  Great  Western  Rail- 
way, 238. 

Derby,  J.  C,  273. 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  meeting 
with  the,  101. 

Dinsmore,  Mr.,  meeting  with, 
87. 

Dombriski,  Prince,  received  by, 
255. 

Donohue,  Irish  patriot,  165. 

Donovan,  the  phrenologist,  122. 

Drinking  by  women  in  1850,  83. 

Dublin,  imprisonment  in,  314. 

Duckbill,  the  Australian,   169. 

Durant,  Dr.  T.  C,  president  of 
Credit  Mobilier,  260. 

Elephants  as  carriers,  208. 

Emerson,  Ralph  W.,  lecture  at 
Waltham,  39;  engages  pas- 
sage for  Europe,  60. 

Emigration,  Irish,  to  America, 
76;  of  the  Landsdowne  ten- 
ants, 97;  to  Tasmania,  148. 

"  Emperor,  the,"  fountain  at 
Chatsworth,  102. 

England,  first  impressions  of, 
90;  introduction  of  tram- 
ways in,  259;  and  the  Civil 
War  in  the  United  States, 
271. 

Excelsior,  the  Chinese,  193. 

Fallow,  Christopher  and  John, 

239. 
Fenton,  Reuben  E.,  243. 
Fillmore,     Millard,     President, 

113. 


Fiske,  Stebbins,  13. 

Fitzroy,  Sir  Charles,  Governor 
of  New  South  Wales,  143. 

"Five-Star  Republic,"  the,  of 
Australia,  157. 

Flowers,  love  of,  177. 

Flying  Cloud,  the,  72,  221. 

Flying-fish,  experience  with,  208. 

Fowler,  the  phrenologist,  123. 

France,  travels  in,  233. 

Franklin,  wreck  of  the,  61. 

Franklin,  Sir  John,  house  in 
Tasmania,  150. 

Frost,  Abigail  Pickering,  10. 

Frost,  George  W.,  14. 

Frost,  Leonard,  39. 

Fuchow,  visit  to,  200. 

Fuller,  Frank,  builder  of  Crys- 
tal Palace,  104. 

Fuller,  Col.  Hiram,  93. 

Gambetta,  interview  with,  311. 
Gambling  at  Saratoga  in  1850, 

85. 
Geneva,   Switzerland,   tramway 

in,  269. 
Georgetown  Convent,  visit  to, 

82. 
Germany,  travels  in,  233. 
Ginger,  preparation  of  Canton, 

190. 
"Godowns,"  185. 
Golden    Age,    the,    and    Black 

Warrior  incident,  143. 
Gold-fever,  in  California,  71;  in 

Australia,  130,  141. 
Gordon,  "Chinese,"  196. 
Governor  Davis,  the,  64. 
Grant,   U.    S.,    election   to    the 

presidency,  321. 
Gray  Nunnery,  Montreal,  visit 

to  the,  87. 


343 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


Greeley,  Horace,  nomination  of, 

320. 
Green,    E.    H.,    in    Hongkong, 

182. 
Greig,  Colonel,  entertained  by, 

254. 
Guild,  B.  F.,  editor  of  Boston 

Commercial  Bulletin,  276. 

Harris,  Townsend,  179. 

Havelock,  General,  208. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  58. 

Hayes,  Kate,  in  Melbourne,  167. 

Heard,  Augustine,  author  of 
The  Chinese  Excelsior,  193, 
200. 

Henry,  voyage  to  Boston  on 
the,  7,  16. 

Herald,  New  York,  in  1856,  221. 

Hill,  Rowland,  English  postal 
reformer,  108. 

Hobart  Town,  Tasmania,  visit 
to,  149. 

Holmes,  Joseph  A.,  secure  em- 
ployment with,  42. 

Hongkong,  visits  to,  182,  203. 

Hooligan,  finder  of  the  "  bonan- 
za nugget,"  141. 

Horsemanship,  112. 

Hotel  scheme  for  London,  105. 

Howe,  Joseph,  ex-Governor  of 
Nova  Scotia,  113. 

Howitt,  William  and  Mary,  149. 

Hudson,  Captain,  249. 

Hudson,  Frederick,  222. 

Hunt,  Thornton,  made  editor 
of  London  Morning  Chron- 
icle, 272. 

Imprisonment,  314,  334. 
India,  visit  to,  204. 
Inventions,  106. 


Irish  immigration  to  America, 

76. 
Italy,  travels  in,  233. 

Japan,    leaves    Australia    for, 
168,  171;  trip  abandoned,  200. 
Java,  visit  to,  174. 
Jerusalem,  visit  to,  211. 
Joppa,  visit  to,  211. 
Joshua  Bates,  the,  58,  72. 

Kangaroos,    Sidney    Smith    on, 

169. 
Keene,    Laura,    in    Melbourne, 

166. 
Kennard,  Thomas,  and  Atlantic 

and  Great  Western  Railway, 

243. 
King,  Susan  B.,  332. 
Krakatoa,  volcano  of,  175. 
Kremlin,  at  the,  255. 

Lachine  Rapids,  shooting  the, 
86. 

Laird,  John,  and  the  Birken- 
head tramways,  261. 

Lake  Champlain,  visit  to,  88. 

Lake  George,  visit  to,  88. 

Lamartine,  Alphonse  de,  meet- 
ing with  Seward,  232. 

Lansdowne,  Marquis  of,  97. 

Latrobe,  Governor,  158. 

Launceston,  Tasmania,  visit  to, 
151. 

Lawrence,  Abbott,  United 
States  Minister,  98. 

Lawrence,  Bigelow,  marriage 
to  Sallie  Ward,  114. 

Leghorn,  explosion  at,  233. 

Lemon,  Mark,  105. 

Lexington,  burning  of  the,  10, 
36. 


344 


INDEX 


Lightning,  the,  221. 

Ligue  du  Midi,  the,  305. 

Li  Hung  Chang,  meeting  with, 
195. 

Lillo,  Leon,  227;  and  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railway, 
238. 

Lincoln,  President,  and  eman- 
cipation, 280. 

Liverpool,  take  charge  of  busi- 
ness in,  79,  90;  business  fa- 
cilities of,  94;  return  to,  after 
marriage,  117;  introduction 
of  street-railways,  200. 

London,  visits  to,  98,  104;  in- 
troduction of  tramways,  263. 

Lyons,  imprisonment  at,  310. 

Macao,  visit  to,  182. 

MacDonald,  Sir  John  A.,  113. 

MacFarlane,  Rev.  J.  R.,  com- 
panion in  the  Holy  Land, 
211. 

McGill,  James,  Australian  out- 
law, 159. 

McHenry,  James,  94,  108,  121, 
231;  and  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railway,  237. 

Mackay,  Charles,  author,  125. 

Mackay,  Donald,  72,  223. 

Mackay,  John  W.,  76. 

MacMahon,  Marshal,  in  the 
Crimea,  219. 

Madras,  visit  to,  208. 

Marriage,  109. 

Marseilles,  in  the  Commune, 
301. 

Marsh,  John  Alfred,  121. 

Marshall,  Matthew,  Jr.,  and 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western 
Railway,  245. 

Martin,  John,  Irish  patriot,  165. 


Marvin,  the  hotel-keeper,  83. 
Mavrockadatis,     the,     trip     to 

Newfoundland  on,  274. 
Melbourne,      Australia,      begin 

business    in,    127;    in    1854, 

133;    public  improvement  in, 

170. 
Methodism,  New  England,  21, 

45. 
Mirage,  a,  209. 
Montez,    Lola,    in    Melbourne, 

167. 
Montreal,  visit  to,  86. 
Morse,  Salmi,  133. 
Moscow,  visit  to,  255. 
Mount  Vernon,  visit  to,  82. 
Munoz,  Fernando.  237. 

Nana  Sahib,  208. 
Naples,  visit  to,  234. 
Napoleon,  Emperor  Louis,  272; 

hatred  of,  226. 
New  Orleans,  yellow  fever  at,  2. 
New    South    Wales,   gold-fever 

in,  130,  141. 
New  York,  to  sell  Flying  Cloud, 

73;  vacation  in,  79. 
Niagara  Falls,  visit  to,  86,  111. 
Nicholson,  Sir  Charles,  143. 
Nijnii  Novgorod,  visit  to,  256. 
Noroton,  Conn.,  Soldiers' Home 

in,  164. 

O'Brien,  Smith,  Irish  patriot, 
165. 

Ocean  Monarch,  the,  72;  burn- 
ing of,  59. 

Omaha,  development  of,  294. 

Opium  trade,  67;  English,  in 
China,  196, 

Otis,  Mrs.  Harrison  Grey,  meet- 
ing with,  84. 

Outlaws,  Australian,  152. 


345 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


Palestine,  visit  to,  211. 

Paris,      first      visit      to,      224, 
226. 

Parker,  Dr.,  United  States  Min- 
ister to  China,  180. 

Parliament,  the,  trip  to  Liver- 
pool on,  90. 

Paxton,    Sir    Joseph,    meeting 
with,  103. 

Pennock,  Commander,  249. 

Peto,  Sir  Morton,  246. 

Philippines,  war  in  the,  178. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  and  the  ne- 
gro, 281, 

Phrenology,    experiences    with, 
121. 

Pickering,  Rev,  George,  1,  21. 

Pickering,  Judge  Gilbert,  23. 

Pickering,  Maria,  1, 

Pidgin-English,  185,  192. 

Pigeon-netting,  30. 

Pirates,  Chinese,  182,  201. 

Plymouth    Rock,    the,    trip    to 
Melbourne  on,  127. 

Point  de  Galle,  Ceylon,  visit  to, 
208. 

Porter,  Capt.  David  D.,  visits 
Melbourne,  143. 

Portland,  Ore.,  speech  at,  297. 

Presidential  aspirations,  314. 

Pyramids,  trip  to  the,  209. 

Railway  building,  in  Australia, 
131,  269;  Atlantic  and  Great 
Western  Railway,  237,  269; 
English  street-railways,  259; 
Union  Pacific  Railway,  269, 
283. 

Red  Jacket,  the,  221;  the  in- 
cident at  Melbourne,  138. 

Rhoades,  Sallie,  24. 

Rianzares,  Duke  of,  227,  237. 


Richardson,  Albert  D.,  Beyond 

the  Mississippi,  291, 
Ripley,  George,  38. 
Ristori,  meeting  with,  228. 
Rome,  hailed  as  "  liberator  "  in 

uprising  in,  235. 
Rumford,  Count,  38. 
Rush,  Mrs.,  meeting  with,  84. 
Russell,    Lord     John,    meeting 

with,   at    Braemar,  ^;    and 

the  Civil  War,  272. 
Russia,  visit  to,  249. 

St.  Petersburg,  visit  to,  251, 

St.  Petersburg,  the,  64, 

Sala,  George  Augustus,  105  j  in 
America,  260. 

Salamanca,  Jos6  de,  Spanish 
banker,  228;  and  Atlantic 
and  Great  Western  Railway, 
240. 

San  Francisco,  lectures  in, 
296. 

Saratoga,  visit  to,  83. 

Savage  Club  of  London,  organ- 
ization of  the,  263. 

Schenck,  Robert  E.,  244. 

Scotland,  visit  to,  92. 

Seattle,  speech  in,  299. 

Sebastopol,  visit  to,  217. 

Seward,  William  H.,  in  Paris, 
231;  and  the  Mavrockadatis 
incident,  274;  in  Washington, 
281. 

Seymour,  Thomas  H.,  Minister 
to  Russia,  251. 

Shanghai,  visit  to,  194. 

Shelley,  Sir  John  Villiers,  268, 

Sherman,  John,  244. 

Ships,  naming  of,  174. 

Singapore,  visit  to,  179. 

Slave  trade,  Chinese,  184,  203. 


34G 


INDEX 


Smith,     Archdeacon,      meeting 

with,  88. 
Smith,    Sidney,    on    kangaroos, 

169;    prophecy   in   regard    to 

Sydney,  Australia,   143. 
Smuggling,  67. 
Smyrna,  visit  to,  215. 
Sovereign  of  the  Seas,  the,  74, 

221. 
Spectator,     the     London,     pur- 
chase of,  273. 
Spence,  Carroll,  217. 
Spencer,     Bishop     of    Jamaica, 

meeting     with,     88;      dinner 

with,  in  London,  98. 
"  Spread-Eagleism,"'  244. 
Staffordshire,     introduction     of 

tramways  in,  268. 
Staffordshire,  the,  74. 
Stettin,  visit  to,  251. 
Stevens,  Paran,  106. 
Stoddard,       Captain,       meeting 

with,  87. 
Street-railways,     first    English, 

259. 
Strelna,    meeting    with    Grand 

Duke  Constantine  at,  251. 
Suez,  visit  to,  and  land  trip  to 

Cairo,   209. 
Sumner,     Charles,     speaks     in 

Boston  on  the  war,  277. 
Swans,  black,  168. 
Sydney,  visit  to,  143. 

Tai-ping  rebellion,  196. 

Tasmania,  visit  to,  148;  gold- 
fever  in,  130,  141. 

Taylor,  Moses,  166. 

Taylor,  President,  introduced 
to,  80. 

Tea,  Chinese  and  Russian,  191, 
334. 


Temperance,  47,  99. 

Ten-pins,  skill  in,  79;  in  Aus- 
tralia, 135. 

The  Hague,  visit  to,  251. 

Ticonderoga,  visit  to,  88. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  and  Union 
Pacific  Railway,  288. 

Tilly,  Governor,  of  New  Bruns- 
wick, 113. 

Tombs,  imprisonment  in  the, 
324. 

Train,   Ellen,   5. 

Train,  Col.  Enoch,  52,  12G,  223; 
failure  of,  173. 

Train,  Josephine,  3. 

Train,  Louisa,  9. 

Train,  Louise,  5. 

Train,  Oliver,  1,  7. 

Train  Villa,  Newport,  314. 

Tramways.  See  Street-rail- 
ways. 

Trescot,  Commodore,  meeting 
with,  88. 

Tucker,  Beverley,  consul  in 
Liverpool,  123. 

Tweed  Ring,  exposure  of  the, 
32. 

Unicom,  the  wreck  of,  118. 
Union     Pacific     Railway,     269, 

283. 
Upas-tree,  fable  of  the,  189. 
Upton,   George   B.,   223. 

Verne,  Jules,  Le  Tour  du 
Monde  en  Quatre-vingts 
Jours,  301,  331. 

Victoria,  Queen,  92,  104. 

Vienna,  visit  to,  235. 

Wade,  Benjamin.  244. 
Wales,  visit  to,  101. 


347 


MY  LIFE  IN  MANY  STATES 


Waltham,  Mass.,  homestead  at, 
1,  19,  21. 

Ward,  Frederick  Townsend,  in 
China,  196. 

Ward,  Alfredo,  109. 

Ward,  Gen.  C.  L.,  243. 

Ward,  Sallie,  marriage  to  Bige- 
low  Lawrence,  114. 

Washington,  vacation  trip  to,  79. 

Washington  Irving,  the,  58,  72, 
144. 

Webster,  Daniel,  letter  from,  80, 
87,  92;  retained  in  the  Frank- 
lin case,  63;  Secretary  of 
State,  80. 


Wellington,  Duke  of,   100. 
West  Point,  visit  to,  82. 
Whistler,  Major,  255. 
Willis,  N.  P.,  John  Brougham 

on,  124. 
Wilson,  Henry  T.,  148. 
Winslow,  Henry  A.,  10. 
Woodhull,    Victoria    C,    arrest 

of,  323. 
World  tours,  331. 

Young    America    Abroad,    93, 

103,  257. 
Young  America  in  Wall  Street, 

125. 


THE  END 


348 


DATE  DUE                          ' 

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